Walking The Shadow Road
by Bill Gopher
Summary: You've seen what they had become in Walking the Dark Road, now see how it all began for Buffy and Faith. The lies and deceptions that led them on the first part of their journey and walking down the Shadow Road...
1. Chapter 1

**Walking the Shadow Road**

Book 2 of the Walking Series

By Bill Gopher and Iceflame55

**Disclaimers** – The characters of Buffy and company are owned by Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Characters and places of the Middle-Earth are owned by the Tolkien estate. We're just borrowing them all for some fun, we promise to put them back when we're finished :D.

_thoughts_

**Chapter One**

His 'death' at the hands of Isildur had been painful in the extreme, but he had enough Power to keep himself together, from fragmenting completely even with his life force bound to the One Ring. If he had been weaker that bond would not have even mattered, but he wasn't and he was alive and now floating through the Void Between...

Time uncounted passed for him as he floated in the Void Between, time he'd used to gather what scraps of Power he could to himself when he heard a Song, a Song of Power that called to him. A Power that was both like and unlike his own. And so using what Power he'd regained he slowly pulled himself towards that world and that Song until he saw it. It was a little blue-white globe shining in the darkness and it was there he went, following the Song to its source...

Arriving on this world, he'd followed the Song to its destination, but he hadn't found the source of it right away. But that was alright, he had time on his side. Eventually he'd found the source, but to his surprise it wasn't a being like himself but instead a young girl of the race of Men. Confused by this he chose to watch her carefully. Days passed into weeks and soon into months and he continued to watch her, but oh how much he was learning during all this time. For all that she fought for 'good', he could sense the Darkness that lurked just beneath the surface inside of her and he considered the possibilities. He had already begun the slow and laborious rebuilding of his Power as soon as he arrived here, but now he went about watching this girl to learn everything there was to know about her; her strengths, her weaknesses and anything else that might be of use to him. His first thought had been to try and influence her, but that had turned out to be a disaster. For all her petite size and appearance she had a strength of will that was nearly as formidable as his own and he could see that this way would not work, even given enough time such a direct influence would lead him to failure. Instead he maintained his watch on her instead, seeing her inner torment as the vampire she 'cared' about turned on her and went about destroying her life piece by piece. He might have felt worried if it wasn't for the fact that she didn't let her 'hurt feelings' interfere with what she knew she had to do. Although watching this 'Angelus' as he was called, was like watching a master smith create a work of art. Another time he might have considered this being as a servant, but he sensed that in the long run Angelus would be less useful to him than the girl. Angelus would always have his own agenda with anything he might do, but the girl he knew could be bound to him.

Then after killing Angelus she ran away and he had been forced to actually watch over her as she drowned in a cloud of self-pity. That was when he finally decided it was time to step in; carefully he integrated himself into her dreams and altered them so that they no longer reflected her self-pitying feelings but finally turned to acceptance for what she'd done. Pleased with his work he left her alone and was even more pleased with her actions when she killed the Ken-Demon instead of leaving him alive. It was a slow and gradual thing with this one, but he wasn't about to give up on it, he could sense that he was making progress even if it was incremental. Then another one arrived, this one was very much different in many ways from the first. This one was taller, with dark hair, but those were just superficial differences. Inside he could feel the Darkness in this one so much closer to the surface and wild she was. Controlling this one would be as difficult as it would with the other one, but in the end once he was in charge of them both...oh the possibilities boggled the mind at what these two could achieve!

Individually these two girls made many of the 'heroes' who faced him look like children, and even though he was loathe to admit it, the Men of Numenor and the hated Elves had some of the most powerful warriours of Middle Earth among their numbers. But together, these two Slayers, they became a force of unstoppable proportions with the Power that they wielded together, two as one. Together he saw a pair of weapons that in his hands would make him virtually unstoppable, Generals who would lead his armies to victory; warriors who were killing machines equal to any Demon his old Master, Morgoth, had commanded and waiting to be unleashed by him on the populace of Middle-Earth...

Now with a viable plan that began to form in his mind Sauron for the first time abandoned his slow but steady accumulation of Power; instead he began to ruthlessly search out new sources of Power to feed upon and rebuild his lost reserves and atrophied abilities... With what he planned, Sauron needed Power to accomplish his goal; that of removing his humiliating defeat at the hands of the Elves and the Men of Gondor and Arnor. With those two bound to him and serving as his Generals, the War would have taken a much different turn, but his plans were greater than that for he meant to bind their powers to him and to do that would mean opening a Gate to take him back to before the One Ring itself had been forged in Mount Doom... Soon enough he saw the Dark One open herself to the Darkness inside of her, embracing it as she killed without hesitation or question for her 'Master', Sauron thought with a sneer. How such a lesser being expected to be treated with respect and fear, even after he turned himself into a demon amused Sauron to no end and it was also why the Dark One, Faith, as she was called here, in the end betrayed Mayor Wilkins. For he had underestimated the other Slayer and the bond the two of them shared. Had he never wondered why neither Slayer tried killing the other or watched the fight between them just before his so-called Ascension? Fool! Sauron sneered one last time before turning his mind back to more important matters.

As 'Faith' lay in a coma, healing from the injuries given to her by her shorter counterpart, Sauron tried to integrate himself into Faith's dreams and influence her as he had tried with 'Buffy'. But even unconscious he had again found himself facing a will equal to his own and even less tolerant of an entity that did not belong inside her mind. So with some annoyance Sauron had extricated himself from Faith's mind before finally admitting that even 'he' could not influence these Slayers even as indirectly as this method was, which instead left Binding them to himself among other things since neither one would willingly become his servant. He did however give Faith's body a nudge in Power, allowing her to heal completely from the injuries that even with her accelerated healing would have prevented her from ever regaining consciousness and thwarting his plans before they had even bore the slightest fruit...

It was just over two years of watching and learning all he could when Sauron felt the time was right to act and reveal himself, the Slayer faced a creature of immense power and strength, an odd mixture of what they called 'technology' and demon flesh named ADAM. The creature, while crude by his standards was nonetheless quite formidable and the Slayer found herself unable to match it, but Sauron had already thought of a way that would allow the Slayer to defeat ADAM, and begin his long-term goal of gaining both Slayers under his thumb...

**End Chapter One.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Walking the Shadow Road**

Book 2 of the Walking Series

By Bill Gopher and Iceflame55

**Disclaimers** – The characters of Buffy and company are owned by Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Characters and places of the Middle-Earth are owned by the Tolkien estate. We're just borrowing them all for some fun, we promise to put them back when we're finished :D.

_thoughts_

**Chapter Two**

Buffy had just finished her sweep of Restfield Cemetery, it had been almost completely empty and was on her way out when she felt her 'demon radar' go off just as an older looking man stepped out of the shadows ahead of her. Cautiously Buffy kept walking, stopping when the 'old man' was only 10 feet away. "Who are you?"

"My name is Annatar. I've been watching you for a while now Slayer and it seems that you're having a bit of trouble..."

"Oh?" Buffy said suspiciously. "Well what do you know about it?" Buffy asked as she carefully kept her distance between them.

"Quite a bit, you've been getting your 'head handed to you' I believe is the phrase, by that ADAM demon, who by the way also murdered those little children and that you don't know how to tap into your full potential. Add to that that you and your friends are desperately looking for a way to destroy the demon and you have a world of problems now don't you?"

Buffy's eyes narrowed in anger, "Oh yeah? And why exactly are you here? To give me a laundry list of my failures to beat Adam, well, gee...thanks much for that. Now go home to whatever rock you crawled out of before I decide Sunnydale would be much better off minus one old and stupid Demon." Buffy snarled.

Holding his hands up, "Oh now don't go being mean to poor Annatar. I'm not here to berate you Slayer, instead I'm here to offer my help to you." Annatar saw the Slayer's face had not altered in the slightest. "Oh I can't fight the ADAM demon, but there is something else I can offer. I am old, very very old by your standards now and I've learned quite a bit in my time. Now this ADAM is a threat to me and he needs to be removed, which is why I'm here. You see I know of a spell that might aid you greatly..."

Frowning further, "Oh really? And you're just going to help me out of the goodness of your heart, right?" Buffy asked very sarcastically. "Uh huh...Do I look stupid to you 'Annatar'? I may be blonde but that doesn't mean I'm stupid thank you."

"Please Slayer...patience with old Annatar. Now as I've said ADAM's a threat to me if he succeeds in his insane plan to have Human-Demons rule the world. I'm not looking for anything from you either, but I've heard stories of your losing battles with the ADAM Demon and I have knowledge of a spell that could give you the edge you are looking for when you confront him. Have you or your Watcher thought of an Enjoining Spell?" Annatar didn't see the Slayer reply and so he continued, "It's way of combining the abilities and skills of three people into a fourth person, the Vessel. That fourth person will have all the skills, powers and knowledge of the other three in addition to their own." Annatar paused not wanting to push this too hard and fast on the Slayer.

"And the side-effects? Who gets turned into a giant mutant slug afterwards?" Buffy asked still frowning, but slightly curious.

"No one. The spell only lasts a for 5 or 10 of your minutes at most. Is this something that might interest you?"

"And who'd be casting the spell exactly...you?" Buffy asked, her suspicion back in full force.

Shaking his head, "No Slayer. The spell would be cast by the three offering to share their abilities with you, I would have nothing to do with it and that is something that is for the best. I can give you a copy of the spell to have your Witch and Watcher research it so that you know I am speaking the truth to you. I truly do not want you to come to any harm, nor do I want the ADAM Demon to succeed in its goals and threaten me either."

Buffy had to admit if the spell worked as advertised then they could easily defeat ADAM, the problem was that 'if it worked', then there was the old demon who was just handing her this spell on a silver platter. Mentally Buffy reviewed her options and came up with the same ones she had before, "Fine. Leave the spell there on the ground and go."

Annatar hid the smile he felt, instead bowing deeply as he pulled the paper the spell was written on out of his jacket pocked and placed it onto the ground. "I thank you Slayer." Gliding back into the darkness Annatar disappeared from the Slayers sight.

Buffy waited until she could no longer feel the Demon's presence anywhere before walking over and picking up the folded piece of paper. "Well, who knows, maybe this'll turn out to help us. There is always a first time and I know that Willow will leap at the idea of researching a new spell, something Giles'll insist on knowing every last detail, word and ingredient before he even considers using it. But that's fine with me, carefullness equals a longer living Buffy." With that Buffy headed home to tell Giles about what happened tonight...

The Demon's story had been met by Giles with a healthy amount of skepticism, not that she'd blame him since she had her own doubts on the subject of this spell. But this was also, if it worked, the only way to defeat ADAM.

It took another week before Giles got back to Buffy as he'd been researching every last detail about this spell with Willow, but he was now convinced that the spell held no hidden side-effects on either the casters or the recipient. Now that they knew that they could use the spell Giles knew it was time to call Buffy to let her know...

Looking out over the Scoobies, "As you all know we have been searching for a way to defeat ADAM and with little success..."

"Yeah, G-Man. So what's up then? You guys find a magick weapon of demon destroying?" Xander asked.

"No, not quite. But we did find something else, an Enjoining spell." Giles started to explain.

"A in-whatie?" Xander asked, feeling utterly confused.

Patiently Giles repeated himself, "An Enjoining spell Xander, not an in-whatie. It will allow Buffy to tap the abilities of three other people and merge them into a fourth..."

"So then if you and Willow do this spell Buffy'd gain your knowledge of ancient languages and spells and Willow's magickal abilities.." Tara said, understanding the spell. "But isn't it dangerous?"

Nodding, "Yes, technically it can be, but it will only be for a limited time span so that will lessen any potential side-effects on anyone." Giles answered.

"Who would be your third p-person?" Tara asked, knowing this spell required no less than or more than 3 people to cast it.

"I'd like to ask you to be the third person, Tara." Giles asked after getting a nod from Willow.

"W-Why me?" Tara asked as her nervous stutter came rushing back.

"Because the spell calls for a greater amount of power to be called up in order to empower the Slayer as we call upon the First Slayer and Willow has told me that you are a powerful Witch in your own. I am aware that you do not know us that well and it is a good deal of us to ask you..."

"Willow?" Tara asked, nervously. "D-Do you..."

Willow moved next to Tara, "Yes I do, but if you don't feel comfortable than don't worry about it."

"N-No. I'll do it, Buffy's your friend and without me she might die..." Tara said while thinking, _And so might you..._

Willow pulled Tara into a hug before kissing Tara, "Thank you Tara, this means so much to me..."

Sauron sat back, feeling quite satisfied with himself. The spell he'd given the Slayer was a masterpiece of spellcrafting, oh it would work as he said it would, but unless they were to take the spell apart syllable by syllable and held a depth of knowledge as deep as his own they'd never see what he'd done. Because by tapping the Slayer line directly to give Buffy the boost in power, they'd also be unwittingly boost Faith's power level as well since she too was an active Slayer. Rubbing his hands together Sauron watched the events as they continued to unfold exactly as he'd planned...

**End Chapter Two**


	3. Chapter 3

**Walking the Shadow Road**

Book 2 of the Walking Series

By Bill Gopher and Iceflame55

**Disclaimers** – The characters of Buffy and company are owned by Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Characters and places of the Middle-Earth are owned by the Tolkien estate. We're just borrowing them all for some fun, we promise to put them back when we're finished :D.

_thoughts  
_

**Chapter Three  
**

**Initiative Compound**

They'd made their way through to Room 314 where they'd barricaded the only door in or out of the room.

"Buffy, you have to get to Adam before we complete the spell." Giles re-explained to Buffy.

"I know Giles," Buffy said as she opened the secret door that lead straight to where ADAM was.

"Be careful Buffy," Willow said, stepping up to her best friend, even after their many problems this last year.

Giving Willow a quick hug, "I will, promise." Buffy said and she was gone, closing the door behind her..

"Go do you're mojo magic thing Will, I'll make sure no-one interrupts," Xander said as he hefted the M-16A2 and kept a watch out the small window in the door to the hallway.

Walking to the center of the room where it had been cleared Willow looked at Giles and Tara and they all sat down in a triangle. Quickly Willow setup the Gourd in the center and the candles on the Four Corners, lighting them before she began the incantation;

_**"By the generous will of the Ancients,  
the almighty power of the Divine Spirits…  
Your supplicants humbly beseech thee  
to behold us, and that which we possess…the moieties of the  
One, the Avatar…"**_

Willow took hold of the Tarot deck and turned over the first card which was of an ethereal looking woman floating above the ground and placed it face up in front of her; "Spiritus...The Spirit." Drawing the next card it had a picture of a valiant but bloody knight and placed it before Tara, "Animus...Heart." Finally Willow drew the next card which had a picture of a wizened old scholar surrounded by scrolls and holding a globe in one hand that she placed in front of Giles. "Sophus...The Mind." Reaching to the Tarot deck one final time Willow drew a card with crossed hands, one hand was open and the other was a closed fist, "And Manus...The Hand." As she places it in the center of the circle at the base of the Gourd.  
_**  
"We enjoin that we may inhabit  
the vessels - the Hand -  
daughters of Sineya, First of the Ones.  
We implore thee: Admit us,  
bring us to the vessel! Take us **__**now**__**!"**_

Buffy ran across the room, jumping over and behind the panel, the bullets from ADAM's mini-gun barely missing her heels before they slammed into the panel with lethal force.

.../...

The Trinity stood up behind from where its Host had been sheltering from its Enemy and looked out upon the creature her Host had been facing. Her eyes could see the mixed auras of Human and Demon and the flat metal of technology the Trinity realized disdainfully.

"You cannot last forever," the Trinity heard the Enemy say boastfully.

"We can. We are Forever. We are the Trinity." She saw confusion in the Enemy's face, "_**Sha me-en-dan. Gesh-toog me-en-dan. Zee me-en-den. Oo-khush-ta me-ool-lee-a ba-ab-tum-mu-do-en**_." (We are Heart. We are Mind. We are Spirit. From the raging storm, we bring the power of the Primeval One.) The Trinity said in Sumerian, a moment later it watched as the Enemy lifted his arm weapon, pointing it at her and opened fire. Curiously the Trinity stared at the small pieces of lead that flew through the air 'oh so slowly' towards her, like a flight of angry bees. Raising her right hand the Trinity started to chant; _**"Im-a-sheng-ab"**_ (Boil the Air) and the pieces of lead melted as they hit the field in front of her. The Enemy looked at her, confusion in its eyes.

"Interesting. Very Interesting..."

The Trinity watched in amusement as the Enemy sought to use another of its technological weapons as it fired a rocket towards Her. Once again the Trinity held up her right hand, this time only uttering one word; _**"Kur"**_ (Change), and the rocket was transformed into three white doves that flew away. Tiring of the annoying toys the Enemy kept trying to use the Trinity moved her right hand in a circle and finished the gesture that forced the toy to revert back to the Enemy's arm. Amused by this no more, the Trinity moved out from behind the panel and engaged the Enemy. The Trinity watched as the Enemy launched itself at her, swinging with powerful blows that would have crushed its Host, but to it everything moved in slow-motion as it easily dodged the Enemy's futile attacks for a minute and it analyzed the Enemy's style, finding it lacking. That done the Trinity began its own attacks as it rained blow after blow against the steel side of the Enemy's head before throwing it across the room. Running towards the Enemy, the Trinity jumped up into the air kicking the Enemy over and over in its head and chest until it slammed into the wall once again.

"How...Can you..."

"You could never hope to grasp the source of our Power," The Trinity said as it punched through the steel plating on the demon's chest and deep into its chest cavity. Finding what She was looking for the Trinity grabbed and pulled out what She knew to be the Uranium Power Cell in her hand, holding it in front of the Enemy. "But yours is right here..." The Enemy stuttered and fell down to the ground in front of Her. Opening Her hand She began to concentrate and the Power Cell floated up into the air, the Trinity looked deep inside the Power Cell into its core and beyond to what actually held the cell and the material inside of it. With that look She knew what must be done and tore into it crushing the metal of the Power Cell as She drained the energy inside into a pocket dimension and where She sent the crushed Power Cell a moment later...

.../...

**At the Same Time**

**California State Prison, Los Angeles County**

Faith had had her own problems going on, mostly because she refused to join any of the inner gangs and she was tough enough that she could force them to back down when they tried anything stupid. But now it seemed several of the brighter gang leaders had decided that she was too much of a threat as an 'independent' and others might get the same idea that they didn't have to join them as well. All of which left Faith facing 20 very angry-looking women, all of whom were armed with some weapon or another. How they'd managed to have the guards turn such a blind eye wasn't something Faith was going to spend a lot of time thinking about right this instant, but it was something she'd look into 'after' all this was over...

They came at her in a rush and Faith waited until they were close enough to jump up and over the first wave to land on the shoulders of one women, driving her to the ground. Her foot went up and straight back, into the stomach of another gang member when Faith felt two more women grab her arms, holding her. Flipping up and back, behind the two Faith felt their hold break, one of them screamed but Faith was too busy grabbing the knife that was headed towards her stomach to look and see what had happened. Grabbing the knife holder's wrist, Faith snapped it and heard multiple bones shatter and a scream as the knife was dropped even as she pulled the woman forward before tossing her into another gang banger who was charging her with a baseball bat and Faith saw the two go down in a heap. Three more charged at her Faith moved towards them, dodging their attacks even as she fought to land her own blows. The problem was there were too many of them and just not enough time for her to do more than stay on the defensive.

Every so often Faith would see an opening and take it, trying to disable her attackers but she had a host of cuts and bruises on her body, Faith knew that eventually she was going to lose this fight unless something drastically changed. Because even with the odds whittled down to only 10 to 1 she was still grossly outnumbered and killing them wasn't an option. Twirling the improvised staff around her Faith cleared the space around her for a few seconds and used that to get a good look where everyone around her was and then it happened...

Faith felt like a giant hand had slammed into her chest, throwing her onto the ground and on her back. Faith dimly felt something stab her in the stomach, but the rest of her body was in too much pain from whatever had hit her and then She stood up to survey her Enemies. "You cannot defeat me now." The harmonic voice said.

"Who do you think you are girlie? When we're done with you you'll be our Bitch and like it!" One of the gang leaders snarled.

"We are theTrinity. We are Forever." Was the Trinity's reply. Calmly She watched as ten of their number charged Her and She easily avoided the attacks of the first two when Her open palm flashed forward into the closest one's solar plexus, crushing it and throwing the woman backwards over 50' feet. Blocking the kick from the other woman She caught the leg, shattering the knee and twisting it hard to the outside and the woman's thigh bone shattered like styrofoam. The woman screamed as she fell but the Trinity was already on the move grabbing the wooden baseball bat aimed at her head, ripping it out of the woman's hands before kicking her hard enough that She shattered the woman's ribs like plastic, the force of the kick throwing her backwards. Without looking She swing the club behind Her and heard it hit with a sickening CRACK and the woman sneaking up behind her fell to the ground, blood coming from her ears and nose. Discarding the primitive weapon the Trinity met the next three, avoiding their blows even as She analyzed their simple styles of attack. Grabbing one arm she broke it at the elbow as the woman screamed, but Her hand flashed forward into her throat like a knife and silencing her but the Trinity had already crushed both knees of another Enemy and was moving to the last one. Taking the knife away from the girl the Trinity grabbed her by the throat and crushing it before tossing the girl away from Her contemptuously. The last three gang members spread out, trying to surround Her and She disabled the remaining three with a contemptuous ease. "You cannot win. Desist and you will live. Attack and you will die." The Trinity explained to the five remaining Enemies that stood before Her.

"Fuck you chica!" The Enemy to her far left yelled. "Yeah! That's right, those were just the ones to hurt you and slow you down!" Another one yelled.

"Very well, you have decided. The consequences are yours." The Trinity said without any emotion and watched as the remaining five Enemies charged Her...

Elizabeth Ransom had been a Corrections Officer with the California Penal Division for over four years, but she had never seen anything like this in all her years. She had known that Prisoner #4211678 was dangerous, but this went beyond anything... All around the yard lay the bodies of at least 20 gang members, quite a few she could see were alive, but more weren't. Walking up to one spot Elizabeth stopped where she could see the image of a body literally burnt into the ground, but there was no body, just a small pile of ashes in the center. Looking around Elizabeth saw four more burned areas just like this one and not one of them came within 10' feet of where the body of Prisoner #4211678 a.k.a. Faith Lehane lay. Cautiously Elizabeth moved towards Prisoner #4211678, once she was within a foot of her Elizabeth saw numerous cuts on Lehane's body, but other than that she seemed alight. Quickly Elizabeth moved closer and checked for a pulse and found one before signaling for the 'all clear' for the medical staff to come out.

**Continued in Chapter Four**


	4. Chapter 4

Walking the Shadow Road

Book 2 of the Walking Series

By Bill Gopher and Iceflame55

**Disclaimers** – The characters of Buffy and company are owned by Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Characters and places of the Middle-Earth are owned by the Tolkien estate. We're just borrowing them all for some fun, we promise to put them back when we're finished :D.

_thoughts_

.../...

**Chapter Four**

**Summers Residence**

"You guys ready?" Buffy asked as she got comfortable on the couch and pulled a throw blanket over her legs.

"Yep!" Came Willow and Tara reply before they looked at each other and giggled.

"Good to go Buff. The movie roadshow is ready to start!" Xander replied with a grin and a 'thumbs up' before hitting the PLAY button on the VHS player.

Within seconds, everyone in the room was sound asleep...

.../...

**Willow's Dreamscape**

Willow found herself standing in the middle of the school hallway as kids emptied out of class and pushed to get to their next class before the bell rang and Willow found herself being pushed forwards down the hall until she saw an open door. Fighting her way through the current Willow made it into the classroom and saw everyone staring at her. "Uh hello?" Willow said a little nervously with everyone's eyes on her.

"Well Miss Rosenberg? Are you going to read your book report to the class?" Willow heard the teacher say to her.

"Err...uh..yes." Willow stammered out and moved to the front of the classroom, noticing that the room was filled not with strangers but people she knew. Looking out Willow saw Cordelia and Buffy sitting in the front row. Larry, Jessie and Xander sat a few rows behind Cordelia. Looking down at her hands Willow saw she was holding a book report paper, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". Part of her wanted was telling her that something was wrong, but nothing was making sense even in her own mind at this moment, instead Willow started trying to read her conclusions about the story, stuttering and hesitating as she had done when she was back in High School. Willow stopped reading as she thought she saw something lurking in the back of the room. "Uh, excuse me..."

"Look Willow, when are you going to stop playing and wake up?" Buffy asked in a voice that manged to be both annoyed and bored.

"Buffy, there's something else here. This isn't right..."

Frowning, "You're right." Buffy said as she motioned Cordy to move up. "You're not wearing your costume and you're not in Drama class. You should be getting ready for the Big Play today."

Before Willow could say anything she saw Cordelia suddenly grab her shirt and 'pull', with a large tearing sound Willow's dress disappeared and she saw she was now dressed in her old 'school' clothes her mom used to buy for her. "But..." Willow stammered, now more confused than before even as she was pushed out of the classroom and into the backstage of the auditorium.

"Hey Red."

Willow jumped at the soft voice from behind her, "Faith?! I mean...errr 'hi' uhhm." Willow's mind traveled a million miles an hour as she tried figuring out what was going on here. "Uh, Faith, you're not with the homicidal tendencies still? Because I'm..."

"A bad-ass Wiccan? Yeah, been there, seen that and no, not down with the killing people anymore Red." Faith ushered Willow forward. "Places to go Red. Places to go and strange people to meet you still have."

Willow couldn't figure out what was stranger, Faith not trying to kill her or whatever was going on here. But before she could say anything, Willow felt a cold shiver up her spine.

"Watch the scenery Red, it's the details that'll kill you if you let them because you're not paying attention. Because the answers are there watching you you just have to know what the questions are..."

Willow nodded but before she could ask what Faith meant Willow saw Mr. Giles grab her hand and pull her away from Faith who seemed to disappear and fade away even as she was led to a circle of other kids she remembered from high school.

"Now everyone remember their lines and go out there and have a great time...And remember, don't forget your lines!" Giles said exhortingly.

Willow pushed away from the Circle and ran towards the back stage as she could feel something was coming after her, her heart was pounding as Willow hid between the curtains and the stage when she tripped and fell after hitting something. Looking up Willow saw it was Tara wearing a black cape with a large hood. "Tara?" Willow asked even as she felt a rush of calm at seeing Tara here.

"Not quite Red." And Willow jumped as she heard Faith's voice, but when she looked for her Willow saw she was looking at a tombstone, _**"Amanda O'Herne Lehane. Mother and Wife,"**_ Willow read off the headstone and saw a younger looking Faith dressed in a black dress and on her knees next to her, tears ran freely down Faith's face. Willow saw Faith's mouth move but she couldn't hear any words when an older woman walked up to Faith from behind, putting her hand on Faith's shoulder.

"Come Faith. It isn't safe for us to be here and you have much work to do."

"NO!!" Faith screamed in an agonized voice as she wrapped her arms around herself. "I'm gonna kill that fat bastard first!!"

"No. I know you want vengeance but it isn't worth it Faith. Throwing away your life for that...person. Don't do it, let the authorities handle him..."

Faith whirled around, her eyes blazing with hatred. "Why should I? He'll get a slap on the wrist for killing his junkie/whore wife is all!" Faith yelled.

The woman stayed calm in the face of Faith's rage, "Not this time. I've taken steps to assure that he will be dealt with, please Faith, don't throw away everything you have in front of you."

Willow watched as Faith latched onto the older woman and crumpled, grasping the woman tightly before crying desperately in her arms. After a few minutes the woman gathered Faith up and led her away. In her free hand Willow saw the woman holding onto a large silver cross as she kept a watchful eye as they walked but before Willow could do more than wonder at who the woman was everything changed in the blink of an eye as Willow was once more back on the stage in Sunnydale High School. A cloaked and hooded figure stood in front of her and Willow called out, "Tara?"

"Not quite," came the voice from the hood and Willow screamed as she saw the figure throw back the hood to reveal a woman with a crudely painted face and dreadlocks as she pulled a large, stone knife out and it stabbed deep into her chest over and over...

**.../...**

**Xander's Dreamscape...**

Xander was walking by the baseball diamond where a game was going on, his white ice cream uniform bright in the sun. "Xander! Get over here!" Xander heard Willow call from the SureBet Ice Cream truck ten feet away that had a long line of kids in front of it.

"Sure, be right there!" Xander answered and he was suddenly inside the truck, only now Willow and Tara were inside with him. A familiar voice called his attention away from where Tara and Willow stood making out in front of him. Tearing his eyes away from the two Xander saw an impatient Faith standing at the window to his truck.

"Can I get something to eat here, voyeurism-boy?" Faith snapped. "You can go back to ignoring everything else and watching the lesbians fool around after you give me my ice cream!"

"Yeah, yeah. Fine. Keep your shirt on." Xander replied before turning his complete attention to Faith only to see Faith standing topless in front of him.

"Well what is it? I'm 'hot' and I want some ice cream to cool me off." Faith said angrily, her breasts bouncing slightly.

_Bad Xander!_ Xander yelled at himself as he felt his body react to everything, _Faith's a psycho. We don't have sex or even fantasies about homicidal manics, especially about ones who can break us in half!_ "Okay, so what do you want?"

"Well for you to pay attention for one. Have you seen what's been going on around you lately? I mean anyone who isn't blind would have noticed!" Faith said angrily. "Oh and I'll have a Cherry Bomb Pop!" Faith handed Xander a 5 dollar bill, "Keep the change, I'll see you later."

Before Xander could do more than take the money from Faith he was standing in his basement 'apartment' as something pounded on the door above when a hand touched him on his back. Screaming and spinning around Xander saw it was Buffy, "Buffy! Thank god you're here! First I'm seeing Faith when I'm in an ice cream truck and now I'm back 'here' and there's something trying to get in upstairs..."

"Nope. It's already here," Buffy said and looked up above Xander.

Xander followed Buffy's eyes and saw a dark figure as it hurtled down towards him. Something slammed into his chest over and over again and Xander found it hard to breathe...

**.../...**

**Tara's Dreamscape**

Tara knew she was dreaming, because otherwise how did she get 'here'? Since wherever 'here' was wasn't Buffy's living room. "Hello?" Tara called out in the locker lined hallway. The lights were off, but enough sunlight filled the hallway to illuminate it so Tara had no fears of someone 'jumping out of the shadows'. Continuing to walk Tara heard voices from a room down the hall and hurried down there.

"I'm telling you she's a troublemaker!" Came a man's voice from behind the door.

"No, she's a troubled child who's living in a hell hole and is being abused. I will be reporting this to Child Welfare and Safety." A woman's raised voice answered.

"There's no need for that Agnes, I've been over to Lehane's apartment and it's not the Ritz-Carlton, but it's not a hell hole either. I spoke with the father, Jack Lehane, and he said he had a little problem with his drinking getting out of hand but he's attending AA meetings to get himself cleaned up."

"Right!" Came Agnes' sarcastic reply. "Principal Charles, I've seen the bruises on Faith and photographed them for evidence. Those aren't going to just 'go away' any, what Faith needs is to be out of there."

"No, what that girl needs is a home and a family you'll be taking her from. It's nice that you're concerned, but you're confusing her with these 'ideas', Agnes. Go home, I'll be taking care of this matter now."

Tara heard the voices keep on speaking but they were no longer clear enough for her to understand. Stepping back from the door Tara was about to start walking when she saw the 'hallway' had changed and was now large studio and the floor on one half was covered with mats, punching bags, dummies and more. Up ahead Tara saw a tall-ish, young woman with dark hair speaking to an older woman...

"You are the next possible candidate to be the Chosen One, Faith! The present Slayer, Buffy Summers is not going to live forever no matter how good she is and she is very good. Something you have yet to show me you are capable enough to handle when it is your turn Faith." The woman said, "I know you can do it, Faith. I believe in you because I have seen what you are capable of.

Faith bit back the angry retort at her Watcher, Miss Diana, "Look, thanks. But we both know I'm just here till you guys get a real, Council-trained Slayer in place like 'Miss I'm God's Gift to Slayers' Summers." Faith said with a trace of bitterness.

"Miss Summers is many things Faith. Stubborn, impetuous, and she does not like taking orders like someone else I could mention, but being Council-trained is not one of them."

"What?" Faith said in surprise. "But I thought..."

"No, you didn't think, Faith. You reacted. They are not the same thing. Now I've said that Miss Summers is an excellent Slayer with many good qualities, but what you have never listened to me when I speak of her is that I have also said that you will exceed her. You have all the same qualities but it is what I have glimpsed of you that tells me this and my intuition has never been wrong. So please, trust me here. There is nothing for you to be jealous or resentful of Miss Summers for you have a strength she does not, a strength gained from your difficulties before." Diana saw that Faith had tuned her out once again, thinking she was going to be lectured and missed Diana's compliment of her. She could only hope it one day stuck and Faith knew what she did...that someone believed in her.

Tara felt a cold chill run up her spine and looked around to see what was doing that, but there was nothing to see in the darkened warehouse. "What?" Tara said surprised as she was worried now. With one last glance over her shoulder Tara started her way out of the building only to feel that cold chill again, only this time worse...

Tara didn't want to run as the building seemed to go on and on, but after a few minutes of jogging Tara broke into a dead run towards the far exit. She only knew one thing right now and that was she was going to be dead if she didn't get out of here this very minute! Running until Tara felt her body gasping for breath she collapsed finally at the door. "Thank the Goddess!" Tara murmured and pushed the fire door open to see a cloaked figure standing in the doorway. Lightning flashed in the night sky and Tara fell backwards as she tried to scramble backward in fear. Tara saw the figure leap forward, its hood falling off and revealing a face covered with a black and white African tribal paint style, but Tara had no time to reflect on it any further as a hand holding a primitive looking knife stabbed down into her chest and Tara screamed over and over again with each successive stab into her chest...

**.../...**

**Giles Dreamscape**

Giles opened his eyes to see he was in the old Sunnydale library and other than some dust on the books, the library looked just as he left it, but minus the explosives. Immediately Giles headed towards the swinging double doors, pausing long enough to stop with the door open as he felt someone behind him. Whirling around Giles saw nothing and no-one, but the feeling he was being watched didn't go away even as he left the library and stepped into Buffy's bedroom as she was standing before a mirror. Giles saw himself standing behind Buffy and something 'else', rubbing his eyes Giles looked back, but the sense of a double-image was now gone. Heading out Giles found himself standing outside in a forest at night. The only light was coming from a nearby campfire and Giles quickly headed over to it and saw two people sitting near the fire. One was Buffy who was dressed in old, homespun clothes, a sword was lying on the ground next to her and the other to Giles' surprise was Faith who was sitting closely next to Buffy, her arm draped over Buffy's shoulders in what he could only describe as a very intimate moment. Neither woman reacted to his presence as he walked around the fire so he was looking at them from the front now.

Giles could see that whatever had happened it had been rough on both of them, both Slayers were thinner than usual and each one wore several crude bandages covering a series of wounds.

"How many more days do you figure it'll take for us to arrive at Eregion?" Buffy asked.

"A day maybe, not more than that. We're pretty damn close now."

"I'm sorry I got you into this Faith," Buffy sad as she leaned her head against Faith's shoulder.

"You didn't get us into this B, he did. We just...oh God!" Faith moaned as she felt Buffy's lips on her collarbone and slid her hands underneath the back of Buffy's shirt, sliding it up and over Buffy's head.

Giles blushed furiously at this and turned away, shocked and surprised that Buffy and Faith were lovers; and found himself standing in an old warehouse building and recognized the woman standing in front of him with a phone against her ear. _Why that's Miss Frost, Faith's original Watcher!_ Giles realized.

"I am telling you that Miss Lehane will be the next Slayer, Quentin and I will not abandon her over some hairbrained idea your flunkies came up with to insure that the Slayer is 'properly trained'!"

Giles couldn't hear what was said on the other end of the phone call, but he heard Miss Frost's reply.

"Go to hell Quentin!" Miss Frost said angrily and slammed the phone down, ending the call rather spectacularly. "Why can't they understand? I've seen so many difficulties ahead for Faith, but what she is capable of goes beyond just being a Slayer to being something much, much more. If only my visions were more clear..."

To Giles' frustration he couldn't find out more of what Miss Frost had seen as he was now no longer standing in the warehouse, but instead he was in the middle of a giant battlefield. Giles' first impression was of a battle scene from a movie like Braveheart, only the sheer amount of armoured men fighting dwarfed anything he could think of. Giles' view shifted and he saw a large knot of about 50 heavily armoured men who were completely surrounded. In the center was a large standard of two crossed silver swords over a dragon on a black field. Standing next to the banner Giles saw a female warrior wielding an axe and a sword. With one swipe Giles saw the woman cut the head off of one opponent, blood spraying her silver and black armour and then Giles saw who it was and could not believe his eyes. Before he could do anything Giles saw Buffy cut down two more warriors who were facing her as she laughed wildly. "B-Buffy?" Giles whispered, "What happened to you?" Giles asked, knowing that no answer was forth coming.

For the next few minutes the battle grew more and more intense as Buffy waded into the middle of the fight, her weapons flashing and her blond hair flying wildly as she cut down everyone who stood before her until finally there was no one left to oppose her. Giles watched as Buffy stopped and looked around, a smile crossed her face and Giles saw Faith wearing armour similar to Buffy's only she carried twin, black metal long swords. The two quickly walked over towards each other and embraced, kissing passionately even as they were both heavily covered in blood and gore. Giles could see them talking for a minute but he couldn't understand them before they separated with Faith moving next to Buffy just as a grotesque, black creature in mismatched armor walked over to them and bowed deeply before speaking.

"Lady Akûl, Lady Kulkotart, one of the Wraiths comes. He speak with you now," the creature said nervously.

Giles felt a cold so deep and consuming as it sank into his bones and the only thing he could think of was Death was coming, only it was a tall figure wearing tattered, dark robes that completely covered it from head to toe. Giles found himself backing away from the creature and a desperate need to hide from this thing and he wasn't alone either, the warriors near Buffy likewise backed away, abject terror on their faces but to Giles surprise neither Buffy nor Faith were seemingly affected by this creature. Then to his utter shock, it bowed to them! Giles heard it speaking, but he couldn't understand what it was saying beyond the hissing sound it was making, but Buffy seemed to understand it well enough.

"Very well then, return to your _**Master**_ and tell him of what you've seen." Buffy said with a hint of contempt in her voice.

Giles could see the creature draw itself up to its full height and towered over Buffy, hissing angrily while it drew a two-handed sword from inside its robes with Buffy calmly standing her ground, unafraid.

"Look here Ring-boy, I serve him, but I'm not his butt-monkey unlike _you _and the rest of the Nine . Now you've got your sword drawn, go ahead and use it...if you're not afraid of a little pain!" Buffy said mockingly even as she shifted her stance and readied her axe and sword. But to her apparent disappointment the wraith hissed at her more before returning the sword beneath its robes and stalking away.

Giles couldn't figure out what disturbed him more about this; the fact that that creature which terrified everything around it except for Buffy who was unfazed by it, or her attitude. Something was truly going on that he didn't understand and he was going to have to! Closing his eyes a moment to collect himself, when Giles reopened them he saw he was on a stage somewhere and a large audience of people were waiting for him to do something. As he looked around something told him to look up just in time to see a figure leaping down on top of him and something sank into his chest...again and again...

.../...

**Buffy and Faith's Dreamscape**

Buffy knew something was different when she opened her eyes and saw she was no longer sitting comfortably on her couch but instead she was standing in the middle of an open field...and then she saw her! "YOU! WHY AM I HERE DAMMIT?!" Buffy yelled as she charged her Dark Sister and attacked her as soon as she was close enough. But to Buffy's surprise Faith didn't fight back, what she was doing was just defending herself. Confused now, Buffy stopped her attack and backing off enough to put some room between them. "Okay Faith, what's going on here?" Buffy asked suspiciously.

"Shouldn't I be asking that?" Faith asked as she held her arms up in front of her. "This is your dream you know."

"Bullshit!" Buffy spat out, "This is just another one of your friggin' games to play with my mind!"

Shaking her head, "No games B. No tricks or anything...honest."

"Riiight! And I'm supposed to believe you?"

"Then don't B, but I'm not going to fight you. Been there, done that. Got stabbed through the gut for it no less, remember?" Faith said tiredly.

Confused was one word for how she felt right now because Buffy could feel that Faith wasn't lying along with a lot of guilt over the fight where she'd stabbed Faith. "Okay, so say I believe you. So what is going on and where am I?"

Shrugging, "Not a 100 sure myself so I can't exactly tell you what I don't know."

"Okay, so what's the last thing you remember then, Faith?"

"I was fighting a truckload of female gang members that wanted me dead or their bitch. I was holding on mostly, getting some hits in and then something just 'hit' me and it felt like I had 3 people inside my head at once. I suddenly knew all this magic stuff and the fight...well everyone else seemed to move in slow motion except for me. I remember saying some weird words and talking about myself in the 3rd person, something about the Trinity and then...nothing. At least until I woke up here."

Buffy was ready to think Faith might be lying up until Faith started describing what she remembered and last, that was when Buffy knew it was the truth. For she remembered the whole being Three as One and calling herself the Trinity as well, but what she didn't understand was why their spell had included Faith in it. Letting go of the breath she had been holding, "I believe you Faith." Buffy said as she lowered her arms and unclenched her fists.

"You do? Why?" Faith asked unable to believe her ears.

"Because that's what happened to me, well not the gang members, but having three other people in my head as I called myself the Trinity. Only it was supposed to just affect me so I could defeat Adam and I can't see you knowing that unless it happened to you too. So why were you somehow included into the spell?" Buffy wondered out loud.

"Look B, while we're here I think we need to clear the air between us."

Frowning, "What do you mean? I think the air's pretty damn clear as it. You're a bitch and you've tried killing me and fucking stealing my life so what else is there to know?!"

"Fuck you B! Like you didn't stab me after you realized I wasn't going to go along with being dinner for your boyfriend?" Faith said with an angry sneer.

"Well you're the one who poisoned Angel in the first place, F!" Buffy yelled and got ready to attack.

A moment later a voice cracked through the air **"Enough!"** and both Slayers held their ears which were set to ringing, but it was Buffy who saw Tara walking out of the desert towards them.

"Tara? What are you doing here and why?" Buffy asked but Tara stayed quiet, continuing to walk until she was only a few feet away from them.

"I speak for her...the First of the Chosen Ones...Sineya. She who was the progenitor of you all."

Faith spoke up first, "So what does Sineya, the First want with us and why isn't she telling us this instead of you?"

"I speak for her for she has no voice, no speech, she lives in the action of death. The blood cry. The penetrating wound. I am destruction. Absolute. Alone."

"So why is she here then because I'm not down with the whole 'no speech' thing." Buffy replied.

"You both are here because of the fracture between you that if it continues will cause your end. A darkness is stalking you as it comes this way, you must be prepared for it or it will devour you both as well as those you love..." Not-Tara answered.

"So what's this darkness that's watching us? Another vampire with delusions of grandeur? Been there, done that." Buffy said confidently.

"That is not the only darkness stalking the night Buffy Summers. You each carry the means to your own destruction and that of many others if you allow it to fester and grow within you," Not-Tara said patiently.

"Great! More of the annoying and ever so not clear vagueness!" Buffy griped.

Sighing, "Neither of you are powerful enough to face this opponent alone, in order to defeat it you two must put aside your differences and your anger towards one another or untold innocents will pay for your stubborn arrogance. Until you two manage to do that then neither of you will be leaving here!" With that Not-Tara disappeared in a flash of blue light.

"Well this is gonna be a long stay here because I've got nothing to apologize for to you!" Buffy said angrily.

"Like I do? Fuck you B! Little Miss Stuck Up Princess Slayer!" Faith answered just as angrily.

"Well I'm not the homicidal maniac now am I?"

"No, you're too busy boinking vampires!"

Both women sat down away from the other in a huff, their backs to one another and this went on for time un-numbered as the sun neither set nor rose here, it only stayed high in the sky and never moved.

One thing Buffy noticed was that she wasn't hungry after however long they had both been there in this desert, but Buffy also realized that they weren't going to be allowed to go back to their bodies until they did sort things out between them. With that Buffy stood up and walked over to where Faith was lying in a partially shaded spot. Buffy noticed Faith hadn't opened her eyes, but she could see by Faith's posture she knew that Buffy was there. "Look Faith, whatever it is we're not going back to our bodies until we work out whatever it is between us..."

"Gee B, how nice of you to want to talk about 'whatever'..." Faith said with a sneer, her eyes still closed.

"Damnit Faith! I want to get back to my body and out of here!" Buffy bit back the angry words she was going to throw into Faith's face. "Look I'm not trying to be your 'best bud' here, we've both had too much crap float under the bridge for both of us for that..."

Faith opened her eyes finally and sat up, "Fine then. So what do you want to talk about?"

"How about you?" Buffy saw the wary look on Faith's face. "What was it like when you became the Slayer?"

"Before or after I found out I was your 'backup'?" Faith asked bitterly.

"Damnit Faith! You were never my 'backup'! You're my Sister Slayer! Where'd you ever get the idea you're here just in case of emergencies or something?"

"Easy, that's how everyone treated me! 'Oh look here comes the second string, I mean Faith!' "

"When did I ever say or treat you like that Faith?" Buffy asked, honestly confused here.

"Let's see...When you found out I was living in that flea-bag of a motel and did nothing. Not a single one of your precious Scoobies, Giles or even you offered anything for help. I was always good enough to have around when you needed help killing some demon or something, but never to have around and maybe treat like a human being! How's that??"

Buffy sat there for a few minutes thinking about what Faith had said and looking back on her memories she could see where and why Faith might be angry. _No, not might be angry, but would be angry..._ Admitting this to herself Buffy had to admit she'd done Faith wrong "You're right," Buffy said in a quiet voice. "I'm sorry. I never thought about it, but I should have and made Giles either find someplace for you, but you shouldn't have stayed there in that place. But there's one thing you need to believe and that is that I never thought of you as the second Slayer. You were always my Sister Slayer..." Buffy stopped there, not wanting to say anything more.

Faith couldn't believe her ears, the 'great and perfect' Buffy Summers was actually apologizing and admitting she was wrong! "Yeah right!"

"Is that why you tried killing me, then Angel, poisoned him later on and then stole my body? Payback?" But to Buffy's annoyance Faith never said a word and instead closed her eyes. "Fine! Be that way!" Buffy said angrily and plopped down on the ground nearby...

**Continued in Chapter Five**

**Glossary of Names**

Akûl Ghaash - 'Ice Flame' in the Black Speech of Mordor and the name Buffy was known as by the Orcs of Mordor.

Kulkotar Thraang - 'Dragon's Rage' in the Black Speech of Mordor and the name Faith was known as by the Orcs of Mordor.


	5. Chapter 5

Walking the Shadow Road

Book 2 of the Walking Series

By Bill Gopher and Iceflame55

**Disclaimers** – The characters of Buffy and company are owned by Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Characters and places of the Middle-Earth are owned by the Tolkien estate. We're just borrowing them all for some fun, we promise to put them back when we're finished :D.

_thoughts_

**Chapter Five**

Willow woke up to the sound of static from the TV, next to her she could see Tara was just waking up as well and looking worried. "Tara hon, are you okay?"

"Y-Yes. I think so." Before Tara could say anything more she heard several groans and saw Mr. Giles and Xander waking up. "Did anyone else have a really freaky dream?" Tara asked and saw nods from everyone in the room except for Buffy who was still unconscious. "Mr. Giles?" Tara started to say only to see he had already moved over and was trying to wake Buffy up.

Willow heard Tara and had looked over at Buffy who was still out, closing her eyes Willow concentrated on Buffy and could sense something was keeping her unconscious. "Giles, that's not a normal sleep for Buffy, I can sense something like a spell is keeping Buffy in the dream world..."

One eyebrow went up on Giles' face, "Indeed? Is there any way you can break it and pull Buffy out of it without harming her?"

Shaking her head, "No, who or whatever is doing that is wayyy more powerful than I am and forcing it might do more damage than just leaving Buffy there."

Tara looked over at Willow, "Willow, instead of breaking the spell can you insert yourself into Buffy's dreamworld? Maybe we can get a better idea on what is happening to her if we could see what's going on."

"Okay, I can try that." Willow closed her eyes and started centering herself. As Willow began to separate her ethereal self from her body she drifted towards Buffy but as soon as she tried to slide herself into Buffy it was like hitting a brick wall and after three more failed attempts that only generated a giant headache Willow moved back to her body and ended the spell. As soon as she opened her eyes Willow held her head that was throbbing, "That isn't going to work, somethings got some sort of warding up to keep out anyone else from entering Buffy's dreamscape."

**Buffy and Faith's Dreamscape**

Buffy was pacing back and forth, she wasn't sure how long they both had been 'here', wherever actually 'here' was. But Buffy had the feeling it had been several days at least, most of which were filled with just quietness from Faith who seemed to like sulking quite a lot. "Damnit Faith, sitting here and sulking isn't going to get us out of here."

"Really? And here I thought this was a vacation spot." Faith answered sarcastically.

"Funny Faith," Buffy said as she sat down in front of Faith, "I don't think we're going to get out of here until we start talking, that's what I got from 'not-Tara' at least."

Faith sat up, "Fine, what is it you want to talk about?"

"What was it like when you became the Slayer?"

Frowning, "Don't you mean when I became the *backup* Slayer?" Faith asked with some anger in her voice.

_I see!_ Was Buffy's thought, "No, you became *the* Slayer when Kendra died. But what was it like for you?" Buffy asked but didn't wait for Faith's answer, "For me it turned my world upside down. I was your typical Valley-girl bitch and then one day I had this old man trying to tell me I was the *Chosen One*" Buffy said using air quotes.

"So what changed your mind? You get to kick ass and rule your school to boot?" Faith asked derisively.

"No, not really. One day Merrick came into the girl's locker room and then threw a knife at my head that I caught only inches away from my face, but I still couldn't believe it, at least until I went out to a graveyard that night and met my first vampire."

"Awww, did the Princess break a fingernail?" Faith said sarcastically.

"No," Buffy said with a frown, "Actually it took three tries to stake that stupid newbie; that was pretty much when I figured out vampires weren't an old man's delusion."

"So how was that turning your world upside down? 'Cause that doesn't sound like much to me."

Buffy was about to make a smart ass reply to Faith but bit it back instead. "Not at first, no. But once I started all the training with Merrick every day I started dropping out of all the things that were important to me before; cheerleading, pep squad, all that stuff." Shrugging lightly, "But after that night, they didn't seem so important and Dad wasn't thrilled his 'little girl' wasn't the star of the school anymore." Buffy forgot she was talking to Faith as she started reliving the memories she'd forgotten for a while. "Dad worked at some corporation in LA, never remembered the name of it, but after I became the Slayer I realized I wasn't his daughter, but his trophy child he could take out when they had some dinner or corporate-thingy and show me off, so when I stopped being 'perfect'...the fights started...Anyway, being the Slayer changed my life a lot."

"Awww!!! Poor little princess wasn't daddy's little girl anymore. Remind me to cry."

"FUCK YOU FAITH!" Buffy yelled angrily. "So my life wasn't the bitching ass one you had! Yeah, I get that you had a truly fucked up childhood, not that hard to figure out...you know? Well guess what? No one's life is perfect so get the fuck over your pity party about how you 'suffered so and no one can understand' " Buffy stood up, her hands on her hips, "If you haven't figured it out Faith, life is what you fucking make of it! Not what you bitch and complain about...'oh my childhood was soooo hard!"

"You don't..." Faith started to say.

"Shut the fuck up Faith! You've had choices from day one when you became a Slayer and your life changed. I don't know much about your Watcher, but I do know if she was anything like Giles or Merrick she gave damn about you and wanted you to be the best there was!"

Faith stood up angrily and got ready to fight, "What the hell do you know B? You've had a perfect life, parents who love you, a good home, friends...what the fuck did I have? A junkie whore for a mom and my 'dad' who raped me every night for two years after I turned 13!" Faith felt all the old wounds from that life come straight back up.

Buffy stopped and took a deep breath, "I'm sorry you had that happen to you Faith and yeah, I get that you don't want my pity, which it isn't. It's compassion because your parents are supposed to love and protect you. But you can't keep blaming the world and everyone in it for your problems in life now, problems that are there because of _**your**_ choices. As soon as you left home, whenever that was, your life became your own, not anybody else's."

Faith was about to say something when she had a flashback to Miss Frost telling her that 'her life was her own and so were her choices now' and Faith shut up for a moment. "Whatever, you've still got the better life B, family who love you, your friends, the 'great' Giles..."

Buffy snorted, "Perfect life? Not even close Faith. You want to hear about my perfect life? Have a seat." Buffy said as she sat down and saw Faith warily follow suit a minute later. "If I was so 'perfect' than why do I have nightmares every night of all the people I've somehow failed Faith? You know why? Because I'm not good enough or fast enough or strong enough. No matter how hard I try or what I do, I'm always going to fail someone somewhere and they're going to die because I wasn't." Pausing a moment before continuing, "I'm such a _wonderful_ person, that my very best friend was afraid to tell me she was gay and she had a girlfriend because she thought I was too self-absorbed to understand what she might be going through. How's that for 'perfection' Faith?" Seeing no reply coming from Faith, Buffy decided to continue, it wasn't like she had any self-delusions left about her life, her friends or herself anymore.

"You know what's funny Faith? The whole time you were working for the mayor and just before, all you did was bitch and complain about me, like I was on some pedestal or something. The funny thing is a part of me would have enjoyed working for the Mayor." Buffy stopped for a moment but never saw the look of shock on Faith's face, "It would have been a blessing; all the pressure would have been gone, no more fighting vamps and demons nightly, just killing whoever the Mayor wanted and let the world destroy itself or whatever it was that was going to happen when he got the Hellmouth open. I think a part of me would have really loved it, the freedom I'd have had for once..."

Faith's jaw dropped in total and complete shock at this piece of information, Faith knew when she worked for the Mayor she just didn't care what he asked her to do because he treated her kindly. Whether it was just a kind word of thanks, a reward or gift, he'd shown her some affection so it didn't matter what he wanted her to do for him. But if Buffy was serious, and from the vibe Faith was sensing she was, Buffy would have been worse than she was on her best day simply because she'd have _**enjoyed**_ killing or whatever she was asked to do. That actually made Faith shudder. She wasn't a 'hero', but Faith understood the difference between her actions and what she now began to suspect Buffy would have been capable of...

Unaware of the chilling nature of Faith's thoughts, Buffy frowned as her thoughts turned down a dark path she rarely allowed herself to tread, "Do you know why I'm such a perfectionist Faith? Because I'm not strong enough or fast enough or skilled enough a fighter and I'll always fail someone...somewhere. Just like I always have." Buffy said, a mirthless chuckle raising the hair on the back of Faith's neck."No matter what I do or how hard I'd I try it'll never be enough and everyone I've failed just shows you how true that is. The one thing I can't do though is give up, no matter what it costs me, how bad I'm hurt or even if it's completely stupid and useless to try....I have to, no matter what. Because that's the only strength I have in the end, I just won't quit. The 'sunshine' California girl that I know you hated about me, all happy, peppy and nothing more than a stupid blonde who happens to be the Slayer? That's just the show I put on for everyone."

Uneasy and confused at the things being shared, Faith shook her head, "What are you talking about B? Everyone knows that that's you. Well, I'll admit you're not a dumb blonde but..."

"See?" Buffy said with a light shrug, "Even you bought it hook, line and sinker. Mom's as clueless as you can get about Slaying and she was just sooo understanding, that's why when I told her I was a Vampire Slayer she thought I was having another 'mental episode', and then proceeded to throw me out of the house telling me never to come back. My good friend Xander?" Buffy laughed bitterly, "That's why he lied to me when I went after Angelus, because he hated Angel so much because only Xander was the 'right one for me'...uh huh! So I got to shove a sword through Angel's heart *after* Willow re-souled him because of the portal coming from Acathala was opened and the only way to close it was to send _**Angel**_ to suffer in hell for an eternity. And Willow? I love her, but she's lived such a sheltered life she could never understand what I go through, so how could I talk to her about what terrifies _me_, the nightmares that haunt my every night? Finally we have my loving parents, the same ones who threw me into an insane asylum for 8 months after I killed Lothos because I was talking about vampires and demons. So the only people I got to see were the docs telling me they were all delusions in my mind in-between them pumping me full of drugs! And let's not forget Giles, the man who'd become like a surrogate father to me after *Hank* disowned me, only to have him secretly drug me so I lose my powers, then lies to me about what was going on because I was supposed to face some crazed ass, nutty vampire without anything, no powers, no weapons...zip. Then the vampire I was *supposed* to face breaks out, kidnaps Mom and tortures her before I managed to kill him off. So yeah, I'm just living the perfect life here Faith, gee...what was I thinking?" Buffy said bitterly.

Faith found herself speechless once again, she'd always seen the 'bright and shiny' pieces of Buffy's life; her friends, family, even her Watcher who seemed to think that Buffy could do no wrong. But for every 'bright side' to Buffy's life there was an even darker side to it that Faith had had no clue about. One that Buffy had hidden so well no-one suspected the pain she was feeling. Faith knew parts of her life dwarfed Buffy's in suckiness, but overall she could see it wasn't a contest over who had the suckiest life at times because they both had equal parts for that. The question in her mind was what/if anything could she say? Faith suspected that Buffy had let down her guard to her in a way that was particularly humbling, because here they were 'enemies' and Buffy had bared her very Soul to Faith, leaving her utterly vulnerable and more than likely expecting to be attacked after it."Oh," was about all Faith could think to say

"What? No quippie comeback? No snarky comment on my life or what a loser I am? I'm surprised." With that Buffy stood up and walked away, her emotions too raw to wait for Faith to say something cruel right now.

Faith sat there as Buffy walked away before finally standing up. She couldn't just walk over and say 'sorry to hear that', but there was something else she could do...

"Hey B. You asked me before what it was like when I became the Slayer?" Faith said to Buffy who was turned away from her. "B?" Faith asked when there was no reply after a while and reached out to touch Buffy's shoulder onto to see it move and Buffy spoke.

"Don't. I don't want your pity, F."

"Good, because I'm not giving any."

Buffy finally turned around, "Than what is it?"

"My turn is all. You asked me a question before, so now I'm answering it." With that Faith walked a few paces away and sat down and saw Buffy walk over, sitting down in front of her.

"Before I was the Slayer, I was an angry, pissed off kid. Actually I still am a lot of the time, but my family wasn't exactly the Cosby Show. You see mom had gotten pregnant with me by accident, but she refused to give me up. She always said I was her 'little gift', the problem was mom was a junkie and the only way she could pay for her habit was on her back. I know she loved me because whenever she was straight for a while she was always right there for me, then she met Slick. I was 12 when he moved in, Slick was a dealer and he kept mom high and she gave him and whoever else he wanted her body." Faith explained as she balled her hands into fists by her side. At first Slick didn't notice me, I was just a skinny kid, but when I turned 13 I started growing in the all the right places you might say. He started trying to cop a feel off my ass when I'd walk by or rub my tits by 'accident'. Mostly I ignored him or tried to, then one night Slick came into my room while I was asleep and started feeling me up, when that woke me he put his knife to my throat and said 'he always loved breaking in virgin pussy'. He raped me over and over that night and said if I didn't give it to him from now on he'd kill mom." Faith felt the anger and humiliation burn through her as she remembered. "I hated him with every piece of me, but I couldn't do anything and after a while he stopped sneaking into my room and he'd force me to go down on him and then one time he fucked me in front of my mom." Faith felt tears of rage burn as they fell down her face. "From that day on he said I was 'his bitch to do with as he pleased and with whoever he said he wanted me to fuck'."

Buffy had gotten herself back under control before, but hearing Faith's story made her blood boil, all she could imagine was how she would love to get her hands on that son of a bitch and how she'd enjoy 'teaching' him a lesson or two. They may not have been friends, but what he did to Faith went beyond that. He abused a child and used her like she was his personal 'thing' and if there was one thing Buffy could not stomach or permit, it was that...

"For the next two years I was Slick's fuck toy," Faith said bitterly, "I'd given up fighting him after a while, because every time I did he'd beat the shit out of me and then fuck me to show it didn't matter to him if I was in pain or not...I was his to do with as he pleased. And I couldn't leave Mom, because she was so hooked on the heroin now she was almost never straight. No matter what, I loved her and I couldn't leave her..."

Buffy saw Faith had gone silent after that, "So what happened? How did you get away?" Buffy asked softly.

"I woke up one day, feeling stronger, better. I didn't know what had happened, just that I wasn't helpless anymore. When I went out to school that morning I ran into this old woman who was waiting for me. She gave me the spiel about being the Slayer, not that I believed her anymore than you did Merrick. But that changed after the first vampire I ran into tried killing me, so I went to the address on the card she'd given me and she started training me. Weapons, martial arts and stuff, but once she found out about school she started tutoring me as well, said I had a gift for languages and made me start studying and learning them." Faith noticed Buffy was silent, keeping her thoughts to herself. "I moved in with Miss Frost two weeks later, never told my Mom 'cause I was afraid she'd tell Slick where I was. The next few months with Miss Frost she pushed me hard in my training and then came the day when Miss Frost said my Mom had OD'd and was in the hospital. When she was discharged I took Mom back home only to run into Slick who was waiting for her... I told Slick that day if he ever touched Mom I'd break both his arms and leave him in the junk yard for the dogs to chew on, but that wasn't the end of it. A month later I went over to check on Mom at home only she wasn't there and I found her unconscious at Slick's place, while I was checking to see if she was okay I felt a needle in my back."

Faith started clenching and unclenching her fists again, "Everything went fuzzy and weird. But I felt enough as my clothes were ripped off and Slick raped me over and over and I hated myself because my body wouldn't do what I wanted except beg for Slick to fuck me over and over... and then I guess I passed out. When I woke up Slick was on top of me and someone was making noise, but I couldn't see them so I shoved Slick off me and got up. When I went into the bedroom I saw my Mom...she had blood between her legs. I wanted to kill Slick, but I needed to get Mom to the hospital so I grabbed some clothes for both of us, dressed mom as best I could and took her to the hospital..."

"The doctors said she'd suffered internal injuries and bleeding, that and her heavy drug use had weakened her body so that it wasn't responding and that all they could do then was to make her comfortable..." Faith couldn't hold the tears back she'd felt building up. "Mom died a few hours later. Miss Frost found me and took care of the details for Mom's funeral. She stayed with me for two days straight, never left my side once, held me and told me how I strong I was and how proud she was of me. I never understood it then how she could be proud of me after getting raped. But I finally understood later that it was because I didn't let that destroy me. I just wish I had been able to tell her."

"Tell her what?"

"Thank you. I never said that to her, for all the things she did for me, put up with. I never just said, 'thank you'."

"And Slick? What was his ending in life?" Buffy asked and suspected it was probably at Faith's hands, not that she thought it was wrong, only that Slick didn't suffer enough...

"I don't know. Right after the funeral, Miss Frost told me she'd take care of it, that was the last I heard of him..."

Buffy had nothing to say so she just sat quietly next to Faith, neither woman felt the need or a desire to fill in the quiet, each one taking the time to reflect on what they had just discovered about each other...

**Continued in Chapter Six**


	6. Chapter 6

Walking the Shadow Road

Book 2 of the Walking Series

By Bill Gopher and Iceflame55

**Disclaimers** – The characters of Buffy and company are owned by Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Characters and places of the Middle-Earth are owned by the Tolkien estate. We're just borrowing them all for some fun, we promise to put them back when we're finished :D.

_thoughts_

**Chapter Six**

"Well there must be a reason that Buffy is in the dreamworld." Giles said out loud. "You are sure that this has nothing to do with the enjoining spell Willow?"

"Yes, the spell ended back in the base. I may not know what it is, but I know what isn't causing this and that's the spell. Something wants Buffy in that dream world..." Before Willow could say anything more the phone rang and she jumped slightly in surprise.

"Hello, Summers residence. Oh, Angel, hi. Yes, Giles is here, yes I'll put him on." Joyce turned to Mr. Giles, "Mr. Giles, Angel is on the phone, he says it is something urgent he needs to speak with you about."

Giles just nodded and took the phone from Joyce, "Yes? What is it?" Giles said a bit abruptly.

"It's about Faith. Something happened to her in prison and she's lying in a coma." Angel explained.

"A coma? Did it happen today?" Giles asked, his mind racing with possibilities.

Angel was surprised, but hid it. "Yeah, the guards found Faith surrounded by about 15 - 20 gang members, a little cut up, but nothing life threatening. But ever since they brought her to the infirmary there she's been in a coma. What do you know about what's going on?"

"You know about Adam and the Initiative, yes?"

"Yeah, Willow filled me in on the basics for it. Why? What does that have to do with this?" Angel asked.

"In order to defeat Adam we did an Enjoining spell to give Buffy a power boost, which worked and Adam was defeated and his plans ended and so did the spell. But after we returned to Buffy's home for some 'R & R' as Xander put it we started having some unusual dreams and when we woke Buffy was still unconscious. Willow feels that Buffy is trapped in the dream realm for some reason, but she can't enter it to see what is happening."

Tara had been listening to the conversation and staying quiet because she wasn't really part of their group, but everyone seemed to be missing something. "Mr. Giles, I think we need to get Buffy and Faith together..."

Giles stopped what he was doing and looked over at Tara, "Oh? And why would we need to do that? I appreciate that you are trying to help us Tara, but Faith is a dangerous woman and is presently in prison right now so I cannot see that being a reasonable possibility right now. But thank you for your suggestion."

"You don't understand Mr. Giles. I'm not making a suggestion, I think those two have to be nearby to each other and that might be what is keeping them both inside the dreamworld, because they're apart and they're not supposed to be!" Tara said trying to get Mr. Giles to understand this wasn't a 'guess'.

"Angel, let me get back to you." Giles said and hung up the phone before turning his attention to Tara. "Alright Tara, I'm listening..."

"Okay, what if the Enjoining spell didn't just affect Buffy? I mean this Faith is a Slayer...right? What if for some reason it gave her the same power boost it gave Buffy and now in order for the spell to be canceled it needs them both in proximity to each other?"

"Accepting what you're suggesting is correct, but the question is why?"

Shrugging, "I don't know, but look at it. Both are active Slayers, both received a major power boost and now they both are in a coma. Can it really hurt to try?"

"I'll see what we can do."

**Buffy and Faith's Dreamscape**

"So Faith, why did you go work for the Mayor? I mean he's Evil, with a capital "E", turned into a giant snake and all that." Buffy asked after another day of silence between them.

"Because you guys didn't give a shit about me and evil or not, the Mayor did. That's why B."

"Oh please! You're telling me no-one else was around who'd help you? What about me or Giles or Willow or *anyone*?!"

"B, you were so wrapped up in yourself it's not funny and the rest of your Scooby Gang was just going to follow your lead! When did you ever offer to have me stay with you or someplace else?"

"Well why didn't you ask for any or say anything for that matter! Okay, I should have asked you, but you've got a mouth and a big one to boot. Why didn't you use it and talk to one of us and ask for God's sake!! You use that mouth for virtually everything else you know!"

"Yeah and wouldn't you just love it if I used it to kiss you!" Faith said tauntingly, knowing that Buffy was so straight it hurt.

"More of your 'Want, Take, Have!' philosophy Faith? Oh yeah, that's got you so far now hasn't it?!" Buffy said sarcastically.

"And what about your 'I can't break a rule, I might break a fingernail or get a personality!'" Faith yelled back.

Instead of answering her Buffy's left leg came up in a snap kick that caught Faith in the stomach that knocked Faith back. Buffy leaped at Faith, intent on pounding her into the dust but Faith had already recovered and both Slayers attacked each other in earnest. Punches and kicks were thrown and blocked as each Slayer put everything that had into this fight. After five minutes of going full tilt and holding nothing back Buffy backed up enough so she could wipe the blood from her mouth and where it was dripping into her left eye.

Not that Faith was a picture of perfection herself, her right arm was throbbing badly and Faith could feel her nose was broken. But underneath it all Faith felt good and more than just a bit horny. "Feelin' better there, B?"

"As a matter of fact, yes I am." Buffy answered.

"I guess we both needed that and it answered the question."

Frowning, "What question is that Faith?" Buffy asked.

Faith didn't say anything and walked over until she was standing just in front of Buffy. "Who's better and one more thing..." Faith moved with the speed of a striking cobra and kissed Buffy on the mouth, her hands gently holding Buffy's head on either side of her face. To her surprise Buffy didn't hit her or pull away, but did nothing at first. Putting all she felt into that kiss Faith let her tongue gently trace across Buffy's lips, tasting the strawberry lip gloss. A moment later Buffy opened her mouth and kissed Faith back, her tongue dueling with Faith's even as Buffy's arms came up around and slid up Faith's back and under her shirt before she felt one hand slide around to the front of her shirt and pushed her bra up before capturing her breast with one hand. Groaning at Buffy's touch Faith held back only kissing Buffy.

To say Faith was both shocked and surprised would be putting things mildly, but when everything stopped Faith wanted to kill something.

"Sorry. I didn't mean for it to go that far..."

Angry again, "Why? You're too good to fuck me?" Faith asked angrily.

Buffy took a half step backwards putting a little space between them, but still keeping close enough to Faith. "No, because I have to figure a few things out first before anything like that can go forward between us."

Faith took a moment to think before saying anything, "Okay, I guess. I mean damn B, killer lips there." Faith said with a cocky grin, but she didn't say anything more but instead fixed her clothes.

"I need help here Faith, I can't do the Slaying on my own. I'm tired and I want my Sister Slayer by my side again."

"Okay, well a few problems with that, like prison?"

"Willow can fix that, she'll do that for me. But there's something else, you have to change and I don't mean 'be good'. I mean accept that your life is just that now...yours. You're making the decisions about what happens in it and the whole 'my life sucks and will' has to go. If you come back I'll stand by you through good and bad and try to be the friend I should have been, but it's a two-way street. No more 'Want. Take. Have.'." Buffy paused a moment, "When you went to Angel's, you wanted him to kill you and then later you turned yourself in for what you'd done. You told him you wanted to be forgiven for what you did, but you knew you never would be. Well here's your chance to start down that road...by my side and doing the good fight. So what's it going to be?"

Faith paused here, part of her was tempted to go back, to see if Buffy was willing or able to figure out if she could be with her, much less a woman and another part of Faith was telling her she was hiding here in prison. Hiding so that she could say 'she paid for her actions', but the truth she knew was that it was a lie.... After several minutes of hard thinking Faith finally looked over at Buffy. "Okay B, if you can convince Willow to spring me from jail I'll come back to Sunnydale. But it's gotta be legit, I don't want to have to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life and I've already got enough with what I did, I don't need to be adding anymore to my ever-growing list of things done."

Without any hesitation Buffy answered, "Deal. It'll be all legal...and Faith? It'll be good to have you here again, with me..."

"We'll see B, you may regret me coming back, the night is still young..."

**Continued in Chapter Seven**


	7. Chapter 7

Walking the Shadow Road

Book 2 of the Walking Series

By Bill Gopher and Iceflame55

**Disclaimers** – The characters of Buffy and company are owned by Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Characters and places of the Middle-Earth are owned by the Tolkien estate. We're just borrowing them all for some fun, we promise to put them back when we're finished :D

_thoughts_

**Chapter Seven**

"Something's happening..." Tara said as she watched Buffy's aura swirl into a rainbow of mixed colors before settling down to a blue-green color.

"What's wrong Tara!" Willow called out as she looked at Buffy who was lying on the couch still, but she couldn't see anything wrong with her.

"It's her aura, it was in flux and then it settled down. I-I think we n-need to try to go into Buffy's dream world again..."

Willow frowned, "But we already know that something's keeping us out Tara."

"Maybe, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't try though and maybe whatever happened means the wards keeping anyone out are gone." Tara suggested.

"I'm not so sure about this Tara. I know you're worried for Willow's friend, but you could be risking your life..." Giles said with a definite frown.

"Will?" Tara asked nervously.

"If you think we should do it, then I'm with you." Willow said with a nod.

"Alright then." Tara said and moved the low coffee table and chairs away to give her enough room before pulling a piece of chalk out of her pocket and drawing a large circle around Buffy but leaving one part of the Circle open. "Willow?" Tara said and saw Wilow step through the opening to sit across from her before Tara closed the Circle and held out her hands towards Willow who placed her hands below Tara's, but touching. "Guardians of the Air, ward this Circle and let none of evil intent enter it. Heart, Mind, Spirit. We join these things together to aid one who is lost." Tara said the words, but she knew it was her Will and Mind that created the spell, the words were merely a guide to focus her mind. Tara nodded at Willow who closed her eyes and Tara did the same but concentrated on reaching Buffy. When she opened her eyes Tara saw she was standing in the middle of some sort of desert. A small scrub tree of some sort gave off some shade and Tara saw someone over there, but she was too far to see clearly who it might be. "Willow?" Tara asked out loud, still trying to figure out who was there lying by the tree.

"I'm here. This is Buffy's dreamworld?" Willow asked as she looked around and took in the barren nothingness of it all with the exception of the small tree she saw ahead. "It's a desert!"

"Yes it is," was Tara's reply and considered what that might mean. "Someone's over there by the tree but I can't see who it is, maybe it's Buffy..."

Willow didn't say anything she just took off running towards the tree only to stop suddenly when she was only a few feet away, her eyes wide in shock.

Tara caught up to her lover who was standing dead still and quiet, "W-..." Tara started to say when she stopped and saw the two women, one of whom was Buffy and the other girl who was taller and had dark hair who had to be Faith, were sitting down next to each other and Buffy's head lay resting in Faith's lap as Faith was running her hands through Buffy's hair and scalp and watching Buffy as she slept peacefully.

"Errr, hello?"

Faith saw the blonde girl and cursed silently at the interruption, "B? You need to get up, company's arrived," Faith said but Buffy just rolled over, snuggling closer to Faith's lap. "Look here B, as much as I'm quite content for you to stay where you are, you're giving poor Willow a heart-attack right now..."

"Hmmmm???" Buffy grumbled before sitting up and seeing Willow and Tara. "Tara, Willow, what are you guys doing here? I'm not complaining, just surprised is all."

"We came looking for you Buffy."

"Oh, well here we are. Uhhmmm, how'd you guys get _**here**_, anyway?" Buffy asked, rolling over so that her she was now sitting up but leaning against Faith.

Willow couldn't find her voice as she watched the scene in front of her, here was Faith of all people and Buffy was acting all 'snuggly' with her! "Maybe you want to tell me why you're all snuggly with psycho girl here? This is the person who stole your body, tried killing me on several occasions just to name a few things!"

Buffy felt Faith tense up under her and took Faith's hand in her own, giving it a brief squeeze before letting it go. "I don't have to tell you anything Willow," Buffy said sharply, "But I will. I think Faith and I are here because the First Slayer wanted us to work things out between us and considering we've been here for week or so it's not like we didn't have time to air all our dirty laundry out between us..."

"Buffy, you've only been unconscious for a few hours, not a week. But you still haven't told me why you're all over Faith..." Willow was going to say more but she felt Tara's hand touch her back softly and bit off what she was going to say.

"I'm not 'all over Faith', Willow and anything else is between her and me." Buffy said firmly. She wasn't sure where if anywhere things might go between her and Faith, but that was for them to figure out, not defend herself over them. Willow had to understand sooner or later that everyone gets a second chance and that included Faith too!

"Well you're alright, which is a plus in the 'good things' column, but when are you two leaving here?"

"Soon I think, now that things have been worked out mostly between Faith and me." Just as Buffy finished saying that she saw a figure walking out of the desert, quickly both she and Faith stood up, moving just ahead of the two Witches and expecting a battle only to see it was her Mom walking towards them. "Mom?"

"No, as the young Witch was borrowed to speak for her because you knew her, so now I have borrowed this form to use while you are here."

"So what do you want then?" Faith asked this time.

"To warn you, here my presence can be felt, but that is all," Joyce said as she looked at the two Slayers. "There is a dark presence that is here watching you two carefully, what happened here between you will prevent the dark one from one goal, but there are still more options for it. You both must be on your guard for when the dark one's presence is revealed. For now I have done what I can to aid you two. But you both have many dark choices ahead of you... I will leave you two with this one last thing; separate, you two are vulnerable, but together very little can stop you."

"Why are you telling us this?" Faith asked, her arms crossed and a suspicious look on her face.

"I have my reasons, what you must do is prepare for what is coming for it will be here soon..." Joyce turned around and walked back into the desert, her form wavering as she walked, her image shimmered until it seemed to disappear completely.

"Well that was weird, does anyone else think our lives are about to get really complicated?" Buffy asked and saw Willow raise her hand. "Well how do we get out of here now? Any ideas Will?"

Willow looked over at Tara and both women nodded, but it was Tara who spoke up. "Y-yes. S-Since there's nothing keeping you here anymore visualize yourself back in the living room and then tell yourself your waking up now, since it's a dream and your mind you should just wake up."

"And me blondie?" Faith asked

"I-I-I t-think it's th-the same..." Tara said nervously as she felt the waves of energy coming off of Faith.

"And what about you two? How are you getting out of here?" Buffy asked this time.

"Oh that's easy, don't worry about it Buffy."

Buffy only raised one eyebrow, "If you say so, but how about you get back to your bodies and I'll see you in a few minutes." Buffy said and saw Tara and Willow nod, only to disappear a few moments later. Buffy turned back to Faith, "Are you ready?"

"Sure, just dying to wake up back in prison let me tell you,"

"We'll get you out, just don't forget what I said about your choices Faith, I meant it." Buffy said firmly.

"I won't and don't forget about the kissage, because I want to continue it sometime..." Faith said with a big 'shit eating grin'.

Rolling her eyes, "Like I was going to forget? But I meant it, I need time..."

"I know and you'll have all the time you need B. No pressure or groping....well no pressure." Faith said with a smirk. "See you in a bit B." Faith said as she lay down on the ground and closed her eyes.

Buffy watched as Faith faded away before disappearing entirely. "I guess it's my turn and Buffy was lying down on the sand, closing her eyes and picturing herself on the love seat with the blanket covering her legs. _I'm waking up now!_ Buffy thought firmly and when she opened her eyes she saw Giles and Willow looking down at her with worried looks on their faces. "Err hi?" Buffy said but neither one of them moved, "Okay now, personal space is being invaded, shoo yourselves back..."

Giles stepped back, feeling relieved that Buffy was awake. "How are you feeling?"

"I'd feel better if Willow would let me sit up." Buffy said pointedly.

"Sorry Buffy." Willow said and moved back enough to give Buffy some room. "So, are you...okay?" Willow asked with a worried look on her face.

Smiling, "Never been better, thanks." Buffy said as she sat up and realized she *did* feel better than she had in quite a while. "How about the rest of you guys? Any weirdness dreams or was it just me?"

"We all had some kinda strange dreams Buff, but what happened to you? Willow did her witchy thing and said you were being kept in some dream world or something?" Xander asked as he walked out of the kitchen just behind Joyce.

"I don't know anything about being kept in my dreams," Buffy said "It was just really *strange*." Buffy saw Willow take a breath and was about to say something when she shot Willow a *look* that said 'not now' and Willow stayed silent. "Well I don't know about anyone else but I'm starving after that little dream escapade."

"Well that's good honey, because I made pancakes." Joyce said as he put the plate of freshly cooked pancakes on the dinner table as Xander went about setting plates out.

"Pancakes!? Awesome! You're the best, Mom!" Buffy said and got up, walking over and giving her Mom a giant hug.

"Giles, are you staying for munchies?" Xander asked as he quickly found a seat.

"Yes, what about it Mr. Giles?"

"No, but thank you Mrs. Summers. I believe I'll be returning to my flat for some actual sleep." Giles said to Joyce, ignoring Xander's question

**Continued in Chapter Eight**


	8. Chapter 8

Walking the Shadow Road

Disclaimer – Buffy and Co belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. All original characters belong to me. This is being done for fun and not profit.

Authors Note – Sorry for the long delay, but I'll be adding multiple chapters to make up for forgetting to update.

_Italics_ – thoughts

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**Chapter Eight**

California State Prison, Los Angeles County  
Infirmary

Faith eyes snapped open and she was fully awake, but as she tried to sit up Faith found herself held down with restraints. Struggling against them for a few moments Faith finally stopped to look them over. Looking down Faith saw the restraints that held her started at her mid-chest and moved down until they stopped at her shins, while her wrists and ankles were shackled in addition. _Great! Now I'm locked up like Hannibal Lector, the only thing missing is the face mask..._ Faith thought wryly.

A nurse walked in and saw Prisoner Lehane was awake and ran back out to get the doctor...

Sauron fumed and swore, the Slayer and her friends had gone to sleep exhausted from the spell and he had seen a window of opportunity to invade all their minds at once, especially those of the Slayers. He had known that the spell would likely cause their natural or mystical defences to fall and looked forward to finally manipulating the Slayer, only it hadn't turned out that way. Instead what happened was he'd run into a mystical barrier that he couldn't breach, at least not without revealing himself and he couldn't do that yet, the time wasn't right and he had to be patient or all his plans would be ruined. Sauron had tried with the Dark Slayer, but he had found the same barrier there, keeping him out of the Slayer's mind, but what had him worried the most was *what* it could be that had the Power to put up such a formidable barrier and why it had chosen to do so then....

California State Prison, Los Angeles County  
Infirmary

Faith waited for the nurse to return, but she was not feeling patient. Finally however, the nurse returned, this time with 6 prison guards carrying shotguns and the doctor in tow. "Heya doc! What's up?" Faith said with a mock cheerfulness.

Doctor Grimm said nothing but proceeded to check his patient; first checking her pupil response, heart rate and blood pressure before having the nurse take a full sample of the prisoner's blood for analysis. "You seem to have recovered quite well, Miss Lehane."

Faith saw the doctor was going to say something else when the Warden walked in, his fat bulk brushing against the doorway to the infirmary. _Hail, Hail. The gang's all here!_

Warden Timmons walked over to Prisoner #4211678, "So Miss Lehane, would you like to explain how you put 9 other gang members in the infirmary with you and sent another 21 to the morgue and another 5 were only ashes?"

"I eat my Wheaties every morning?" Faith said with a straight face.

"Your attempts at levity are not appreciated Miss Lehane. I have a stack of papers on my desk because of you. Now I know you don't do drugs and you've kept your nose mostly clean while you've been here." Warden Timmons stopped and looked over at Dr. Grimm, "Would you excuse us doctor?" And Warden Timmons saw the doctor frown, but walk away. "Now as I was about to say, what type of magic did you use to kill those five women?"

Faith couldn't believe her ears when the Warden asked her about magic, "Magic? Me? Are you kidding? I'm no boogedy-boo caster. Besides shouldn't you be talking to the ones who attacked me in the first place?"

"I'm not a fool Miss Lehane. I may not be able to prove it, but I can make your life miserable until you tell me how you did it. Guards, take the prisoner to the Hole. She'll be staying there for the next 14 days." Warden Timmons said angrily and watched as Lehane was untied and went without a fight. He knew that he'd break her, he had time...

Buffy waited until everyone was gone except for Willow and Tara, "Will, we need to talk..." Buffy said with a serious face.

Willow had been waiting for this, so she wasn't surprised that Buffy wanted to talk. "Tara, wait up a minute?"

Smiling, "Sure Willow." Tara said and sat down on the couch, carefully watching Buffy and Willow.

Buffy led Willow a few feet away from Tara, "Look Will, I know you saw stuff you're not thrilled with..."

"Don't you mean you being all comfy and happy with Faith?"

"Yeah, like that. Willow, it's not like we're all with the sex and everything. I don't even know if there's going to be an *us*, but while Faith and I were in that dream world we cleared a lot of things between us up. The kind of things that made Faith feel like she had nowhere else to go but to the Mayor. Faith's a good person deep down, okay, deep deep inside, but she made mistakes. So have the rest of us..."

Willow didn't answer right away, she had to admit some of what she'd seen in her own dream about Faith had surprised her and Buffy wasn't one to jump into things blindly, well most of the time at least. "Okay, so what is it that you want me to do?"

Buffy smiled before turning serious, "I need to get Faith out of prison...legitimately though."

"Is that *all*?!" Willow said with a shocked look on her face, "Why don't you just ask me for the keys to Ft. Knox and the passcodes to the Pentagon computers!"

"Well I'm pretty sure you already have the codes for the Pentagon," Buffy said with a grin, "But seriously though, we have to get Faith out of there."

"Look, I'll see what I can do. But no promises, okay?" Willow answered with some hesitation.

Buffy hugged Willow tightly, "Willow, you're the best!"

"I bet you say that to all the girls who do you favours!" Willow said, but smiling as she did. "I'll talk to you later Buffy," Willow said finally, ending the hug and collecting Tara as they left.

Yawning as Willow and Tara left Buffy headed upstairs feeling bone-tired. As she walked in her room Buffy just dropped on the bed and was out by the time her head hit the pillow...

Friday

Two Days Later..

"Yes Cordy, I'm fine and no I'm not coming to LA. Now can I talk to Angel already?" Buffy said, letting an irritated tone of voice show.

"Buffy? Why are you calling?" Angel asked, worried still for Buffy, even though they had 'broken up'.

"I need some help from you in LA." Buffy thought about dragging this out a little longer before asking Angel for his help, but decided against that. "I need to get Faith out of prison and I need your help doing it."

"Anything else you need? A key to the city maybe? Buffy, Faith confessed to a whole laundry list of crimes and didn't even fight against her sentencing..."

"Which is why I want you to pull whatever strings you have. Faith was attacked by a huge number of gang members in the middle of the day and armed with weapons. I'm not going to have her die in there, so do whatever you have to; call, cajole, beg, threaten...whatever but I want Faith out. Do you really think the next time that she'll be lucky enough to survive? Now I've already got Willow working on it from this side so I need you two sharing notes."

"Buffy, what is all this about? The last time you saw Faith you couldn't stand her and barely accepted her turning herself into the police and going to jail, so something must have happened to change your mind..."

"You're right. Something did change my mind." Buffy said, closing the door on that subject. "Now, when can you start working to get Faith out of prison?"

Angel sighed mentally, he could see Buffy was in her 'stubborn and not going to discuss it' mode. "It'll take a few weeks at least and I'm not making any promises. But if Willow can do something on her end we *might* have a chance to get Faith out, maybe an early parole or something in about a year...."

"I don't want Faith out in a year, so make it happen sooner!" Buffy said angrily and slammed the phone down.

Angel looked at his phone, whatever was going on was really bothering Buffy since she was not that short tempered. "Cordelia," Angel said without looking behind him, "Call Kate, tell her we need to talk..."

Continued in Chapter 9


	9. Chapter 9

Walking the Shadow Road

Disclaimer – Buffy and Co belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. All original characters belong to me. This is being done for fun and not profit.

Authors Note – Sorry for the long delay, but I'll be adding multiple chapters to make up for forgetting to update.

_Italics_ – thoughts

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

**Five Days Later...**

Buffy was walking towards her dorm when she saw Riley heading towards her, part of her wanted to smile, he was her boyfriend...sort of....maybe. But after everything that had happened with Adam, the Initiative, his attack on Willow when he ran out, even though he'd been having a reaction from not getting the drugs they'd been giving all the Initiative soldiers, Buffy wasn't sure about him anymore or them if she was going to be honest. Hiding her frown over those thoughts, Buffy smiled politely. "Hi Riley." Buffy said once he was close enough, but turned her head as he tried to kiss her on the lips and instead managed only to kiss her cheek. "You've been absentee guy lately. More problems with the 'group'?" Buffy said as she steered them away from the busy sidewalk with college kids.

"No, not really. Not after everything that happened with the Professor and how you pretty much saved their collective butts." Riley said once they were far enough away they could talk, "Actually the last week's been busy with tons of physicals, blood tests and after action reports in quadruplicate. How about you though? I tried calling, but I didn't get any answer..." Riley said worried and a little confused over Buffy's reaction when he tried to kiss her.

"Same old, same old. Bad dreams after Adam for everyone and then just the 'usual'..."

"Buffy, is everything okay? You seem kinda distant." Riley pressed, knowing something was going on.

Buffy gave Riley a smile, "I'm good, really. Just dealing with everything that happened and some other stuff. But nothing to worry you about."

"I'm your boyfriend, I'm supposed to worry about you. That's part of my job description you know."

"And here I thought it just covered squishing bugs, screwing in light bulbs and carrying my bags when we go shopping!"

"That too, Buffy!" Riley said and got a hug and a peck on the cheek.

"Are you free? I was thinking of grabbing some lunch and making a picnic of it."

Shaking her head, "No can do, but a raincheck though. I promised Will I'd help her move her stuff over to Tara's and then we'd go get mocha's, best friend stuff I've been neglecting for a while."

Riley's face fell slightly, but he quickly recovered, "Okay, no problem. Raincheck then. See you later Buffy." This time Riley didn't try giving Buffy a hug or kiss and he couldn't help but see the flash of relief on Buffy's face. Waving goodbye Riley headed back to his old dorm to make sure he hadn't left anything there.

**Expresso Pump**

She was feeling damn tired, she might be the Slayer, but it seemed that Willow had an almost unending amount of boxes to be moved to Tara's, which was yet *another* of the 50 zillion fences she had to work on mending. She and Willow had started things off on the right foot when they apologized to each other as they snuck into the Initiative. But Buffy knew that they had a lot more things to work out before they really mended things between them and today was just one step on that path. "So Will, how's it feel to be moving in with Tara?"

Frowning, "Why?" Willow asked, a defensive tone in her voice.

Holding her hands up, "Woah there! I'm just asking how it feels, it's gotta be different than just staying over for a day or two or three." Buffy said as she tried to defuse things. It seemed Willow was still sensitive and not very happy with Buffy, no matter what had been said before.

"Sorry, I guess I'm a little defensive and nervous. I didn't mean to snap at you like that." Willow took a sip of her tea to calm herself before saying anything else, "I'm a bit nervous, like you said it is a big change. But I'm also excited, she's my girlfriend and I'm living with her..together...and the smoochies!!" Willow said and then blushed hotly, her face turning red all the way to her scalp.

"Good smoochies then?" Buffy asked with a genuine smile for her friend. "I really do want to work things out with us though, I know I've got a ways to go to start making some of that up to you. But I miss my best friend..."

"Definite good smoochies, Tara's got lips to kill for..." Willow said and started blushing all over again. "But you've got Riley lips....err what I mean is you have Riley's lips to kiss, not that you 'have' Riley type lips...Okay shutting up now..."

"Don't worry about it Will."

"I miss that you know." Willow said after a few minutes of quiet between them.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked, not following Willow's seeming non-sequitor.

"You used to call me that, Will or your Will, and then you stopped."

Frowning, "See, more things for Buffy to add to the ever-growing list of things to make up to you..." Buffy said trailing off.

Willow realized Buffy was doing it again, taking everything onto her shoulders for what happened between them. "I don't want to hear that anymore. It took both of us to get here and I kept secrets from you too, just like I stopped listening to you when you needed your best friend." Willow reached over and took one of Buffy's hands in her own, squeezing it lightly. "It took two of us Buffy, so stop taking the worlds problems onto your shoulders. Okay?" Willow saw Buffy nod and let go of Buffy's hand. "Now then, so how are you and Riley doing?" Willow asked with a raised eyebrow.

Smirking, "Still living vicariously through your friends, eh? I thought Tara'd be keeping you all happy..." Buffy said, teasingly.

"Tara and me are the happy..." Willow dropped her voice, "especially with the s-e-x, but I'm just seeing if my best friend is good." Willow resumed a normal speaking voice, "You haven't been seeing a lot of Riley lately you know..."

"Yeah well, it's a bunch of things I need to sort out..." Buffy said evasively.

"Things like what? Riley's a good guy, for a guy, and he didn't hit me on purpose you know."

Buffy said nothing but had some of her soda instead before saying something a minute later, "It's not that reason alone I'm not sure about me and Riley anymore. It's a bunch of things..."

"Is it because of Faith?" Willow said, unable to hide the frown as she said Faith's name.

"No, not really. I'm not in love with her for heaven's sake Will!" Buffy said when she saw the doubt on Willow's face. "Really! We didn't do anything Will, I just felt real comfortable around her is all, because she can understand what it feels like to be the Slayer and Riley doesn't. He thinks being the Slayer is like a job I can just quit when we get married or something!"

Willow stayed silent, thinking about what Buffy said. "So have you told him that it's not? That being the Slayer is a lifetime job?"

"Yeah, but he's not big on the listening to that part."

Willow thought about it for a minute, "Do you love him?"

Buffy took a deep breath, "No, I like him and I loved the idea of being with him. But I'm not 'in love' with him and before you ask, no, it doesn't have anything to do with Faith, who I'm *NOT* in love with."

Willow just nodded, "Okay then, you know what you have to do. You can't just string him along, that's not fair to Riley..."

"Yeah, tell me about it. I"m just not sure how to do it, I do like him and this is gonna hurt him bad."

**California State Prison, Los Angeles County**

Faith stood in the small hole that was barely big enough for her to stand, much less sit, not that she wanted to. She may not be able to see anything but that didn't prevent her from hearing the crunching sounds from the roaches she was stepping on or the occasional bite on her feet and legs from the rats down here. Faith had quickly lost track of time down here, with no sound, light or anything else for her to use, even her Slayer senses became disoriented and 'meal times' were few and far between so she couldn't even judge time that way...

"Meal time!" Faith heard as the cover to the hole was opened up and Faith covered her eyes from being blinded by the light. Faith felt the scraps of food as they dropped down on her and quickly grabbed what she could before the rest of the critters here got to it and wolfed the *food* down. It tasted horrible, but it was better than starving, her only other major problems were the lack of any water and a bathroom or even a bucket. All of which meant that she was forced to take care of things here.

Warden Timmons walked into the holding cell and saw the guards were sitting down, one of whom was asleep. "It's been seven days, has she cracked yet?"

"No sir, she's just quiet. No yelling or screaming or anything." Corrections Officer Jenkins answered. "I'm gonna lose money because of that bitch! No-one's ever stayed down there this long before they started screaming."

Waving his hand negligently, "Whatever, but when she starts anything I want to know about it!" Warden Timmons ordered his guards before leaving. _It is time for lunch, I think I'll go visit La Trattoria, I'm really in the mood for Eye-tallian today!_ Timmons headed for his car and the restaurant.

**La Trattoria**

Timmons was finishing his second basket of bread as he waited for his appetizer's to arrive when a tall man with a completely bald head sat down across from him at the table. "Excuse me! What do you think you're doing?!?"

"I am here on behalf of a mutual acquaintance." The man said as he slid a card on the table to the human known as Timmons.

Timmons was about to call for the Maitre'D when he saw the card slid over to him and he flipped it over to see a black skull and felt his blood drain from his face. "I-I-I'm sorry. You didn't say who you were!"

"Our mutual acquaintance is very disappointed with you. You are doing things he is not pleased about."

"B-B-But you don't understand! Everything I've done was to forward our Master's agenda! With this Slayer out of the way, opening the Hellmouth will be that much easier since he'll only have to face Summers!" Timmons blubbered.

Taking a fastidious bite of a piece of bread he said nothing until the bite was gone. "When was that ever communicated to you? He does not want this Slayer dead or broken, but alive and healthy. Your problem is you are trying to serve two masters and that is a mistake."

"N-No I don't. I just do favours from time to time for Wolfram and Hart, that's all. I'm loyal to our Master, I always have been!"

Shaking his head. "Please do not attempt to lie to me, I find it most...distasteful and things I find distasteful have an unpleasant habit of dying...painfully. Now, you will start treating the Slayer as if your life depends on her well-being, because it does. As she suffers, so shall you ten-fold, what you will do is take her out of the oubliette you have placed her in, you will feed her and have her treated by the best doctors so she is returned to full health. She is then to be released back into the general prison population and you *will* make it known that any further attacks on her will result in the most unpleasant of endings for the attackers..."

Timmons bobbed his head in nervous agreement. "Yes! Yes! Of course!"

"Finally, you will tell the Wolf, Ram and Hart that they are to keep their hands off of the Slayers, whether it is directly or indirectly, anything else is not his concern here. Our Master has plans for the two Slayers and he will brook no interference in this matter. If Wolf, Ram and Hart persist in this...let us say things will become extremely unpleasant for them." Standing up he left the table without another word, his mission accomplished and the message had been sent, anything else wasn't his problem....

**Circle of the Black Thorn**

Three men wearing black and red robes and cowls sat around a circular table, "What do you think of that 'message'? Asked one deep voice.

"Look who gave it, we have invested too much to allow our plans to be disrupted now. If anything we should continue, Lehane must be eliminated, along with Summers. With them gone it will take the Council time to get the new Slayer to the Hellmouth and we can take advantage of that..."

"Very well then, it is decided. Our operations will continue without abatement."

Sauron knew his servant would deliver the message and he suspected he knew what would be the answer from the Wolf, Ram and Hart. Reaching out with his Power Sauron touched the mind of another of his faithful servants and transmitted what he wanted him to do. Satisfied, Sauron broke contact with this servant and pondered his next moves, everything else had gone according to his plans so far; the Slayers had both received a boost in Power, increasing their already impressive abilities and the Council of Watchers was still either oblivious to his presence or unconcerned as long as it did not affect their own goals of controlling the Slayers. Finally he had begun assembling the forces he would need when the time was ripe to 'collect' the Slayers, there were a few refusals such as that Chaos Mage, but most decided that working for him would be profitable.

Buffy decided it was time to 'bite the bullet' as it were with Riley. She owed him that much after everything to be honest with him and not string him along. She'd had time to really think about the dream world 'whatever it was' she'd been in with Faith. After a lot of soul-searching Buffy knew she'd never been in love with Riley, he'd just been a comfortable fallback when she was feeling out of place and lost in college. She liked him, she just never loved him, not that she was in love with Faith. A lot of the problems between them had come from Faith hiding things from everyone and Buffy still not wanting to be the Slayer and dealing badly with it. Buffy did know that for all they'd worked out, it was going to take work on her side when Faith was here to keep from repeating her mistakes from last time. Looking at her watch Buffy went to meet Riley at the Expresso Pump...

**Three Weeks Later...**

"Willow, so what are you planning?" Angel asked and heard his voice echo on the other side of the line. "I've tried pulling all the strings I can over here and nobody is willing to help me get Faith out of prison."

"Not a single person you've helped is willing to lift a finger to help get Faith out?" Willow asked incredulously.

"No, so what are you doing on your end?"

Willow's fingers kept typing over the keyboard as she was talking to Angel. "The magic of computers and data in the digital age," Willow answered vaguely. Finding what she was looking for Willow looked the file over before making a few *changes* to it. "Look Angel, why was Faith convicted?" Willow asked as she continued working.

"Faith turned herself into the police and confessed to everything she'd done," Angel said, "What more did they need?"

"Right," Willow said, interrupting Angel, "Now what evidence did they have she did *any* of the crimes, including killing that Professor? Answer...none. Buffy has the knife and according to the police reports there were no fingerprints, DNA or anything else linking her. Did you ask Kate to see if Faith had been Mirandized *before* she confessed?"

"Kate said all they did everything according to the book with Faith. Willow, there's no way to get Faith out of prison how Buffy wants. The soonest Faith is getting out of there is in 15 years!"

"Actually she should be out in about a month or two. I've contacted a defense attorney in LA and he's going to be filing the appropriate motions to have Faith released, it should take a few weeks, but we'll have Faith out." Willow said smugly and she closed her session, making sure first she'd covered all her tracks in and out of the network.

Angel started frowning, "Since when did you of all people become a Faith-fan and where did you get the money to hire a LA attorney Willow and what motions are you talking about?" Angel asked suspiciously.

"I'm sure if you tell Mr. Roth Stanton you're a friend of Willow Rosenberg's he'll be happy to tell you himself. and I'm not in her fan-club Angel, but there's things you don't know about her and that said I'm going to give her a second chance. Goodbye Angel." And Willow disconnected the call, leaning back in her chair. She'd done what she could legally and a few 'not-so' legal maneuvers to help Faith and she had to admit she had some misgivings still, but Tara had been a strong voice for giving Faith a second chance. She hadn't told her what she'd seen in her dream, but Willow suspected it had to have been pretty strong reasons for Tara to work so hard at getting Faith out and Buffy had been working overtime trying to repair their damaged friendship. In fact Willow was going to be meeting Buffy for an 'after the breakup' get together tonight, which was just her, Buffy, some Rocky Road Ice Cream and some movies.

**10 Days Later...  
Czech Republic Monastery**

"It's coming!! The Beast is going to devour us!" One monk wailed as he watched the massive stone door with the equally massive wooden braces the size of tree trunks barring the doors.

"It does not matter. We swore our Oaths to God that we would protect the Key!" The head of the Order said as he strode towards the center of the room towards a circular altar, flanked by the other two senior monks of the Order. All three monks spread their arms, encompassing the altar and began chanting just as there was a massive crash against the door.

Several of the junior monks started crying out, some praying to God.

"SILENCE!" The Abbot ordered, "Now concentrate on what we must do and to the one who will protect the Key at all costs..." The ritual resumed and a strong breeze began to pick up, gathering all the light from the candles and torches in the room, before weaving into one giant pillar of blue flame on the circular altar. The pounding on the door resumed and the braces began to crack and splinter even as the stone doors themselves were cracked completely across in several places. The blue flame suddenly sprang up towards the roof and disappeared, taking with it all the light just as the braces shattered and the doors were flung open....

**Three Days Later  
Sunnydale Industrial District #3**

A chain-link fence blocked entrance into the factory behind it and a metal sign, mounted on the fence;

**PRIVATE PROPERTY  
NO TRESPASSING  
VIOLATERS WILL BE PROSECUTED**

Buffy flew backwards into the chain fence, ducking just in time to avoid the punch that went through the metal sign where her head was a moment earlier

"I've always wanted to kill the Slayer!" Said a burly and over muscled looking Hell's Angel biker Vamp.

"Gee, and I've always wanted Piano lessons! So really, who's surprised we have all this unresolved rage going on here!" Buffy quipped as she ducked another series of swings before she let loose a flurry of punches to Biker Vamp's chest and ended with a punch to his jaw that staggered him. [But not enough] Buffy thought to herself as she felt a hard blow to her face daze her, but she kept her arms up and blocked another punch that should have really hurt, instead Buffy grabbed Biker Vamp's arm up and behind him before slamming him against the chain fence several times. "Now honestly here...I think I'm expressing mine better here...Tell you what, you find a good anger management class..." Buffy was saying as Biker Vamp managed to throw her off, but only succeeding in hitting the fence again as Buffy tossed him into it again. "And I'll jam this nice, sharp piece of wood into your heart..." Buffy said as she whipped out a stake and plunged it into Biker Vamp's heart a second later, exploding into a cloud of dust. "I think that sets the world speed record on closure." Before Buffy could turn to leave a bright light shone into her eyes, blinding her.

"Hey you! No one's allowed here. This is private property." The night security guard walked up towards the young girl, "You aren't here for one of those rave parties or something are you?" The guard asked, "I drove a bunch of them off last night."

"Oh right. Yeah. Darn that. My fellow ravers will be so disappointed."

"You know if I could I'd let you do whatever you wanted in there, it's not like anyone's used that warehouse in years you know. But the boss doesn't want anyone around here, so you need to be going Miss..."

"No problem, I'm gone!" Buffy said and started to walk away when she heard the guard call out to her.

"Hey Miss! Take your...whatever this is with you." The guard said as he picked up a glowing yellow Orb and handed it to the girl.

"Uh...thank you, I think." Buffy said as she accepted the weird glowing yellow orb from the guard.

"These kids and their glowing orbs, I just don't understand this generation..."

**Continued in Chapter Ten**


End file.
